


Telltale Paths

by DeanDaniel



Series: Crossroads [1]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: And everyone else - Freeform, Aoko too, Best Friends to Lovers, Childhood Friends, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Kaito and Shinichi have an actual childhood together, Kaito's nicknaming tendencies, Little children being children, M/M, No joke its long, Ran gets confused but is okay in the end, Shinichi detests those nicknaming tendencies, Shinichi's schoolboy crushes, Slice of Life, Slow Build, Their parents are friends too in extension, darn youngsters, hence slow build, long story, nah not rlly, probably idk, weirdly smart children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-09 14:48:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 147,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6911554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeanDaniel/pseuds/DeanDaniel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What will you be when you grow up? A question so often asked of children, a question that so often asks for the impossible, to look into the future.<br/>Shinichi and Kaito have already chosen the paths they'll lead and at the start it didn't seem so bad, childhood after all took the entrance of life with its sweet beginnings. If only the middle of it wasn't so bitter. Follow along as the two boys' friendship is put to the test as they diverge from the road they took together. Eventual KaiShin.</p><p>--</p><p>On break while I try to catch up with the dang manga AND collectively write the rest of the story till the end before updating!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Mirror mirror

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT STUFF AT THE BOTTOM SO YEAH

Usually it was fairly quiet around the Kudo residence, although the people who live in it are nothing short of being living incarnations of fireworks the home itself has always been a contrast to their constantly active lifestyle. It was a place of rest, a sanctuary if the family should ever feel weary and decide to take a break, heaven knows how much they need some peace from time to time.   
  
So it was quite a shock when a shrill and terrified scream echoed through the large but warm home, sending the residents and their guest barreling through the house as fast as they could to get to the source of the scream “SHIN-CHAN!!” One Yukiko Kudo burst through the door in a frenzied state, eyes darting fearfully around the room as she panted for breath in short audible gasps, knowing straight away that the scream she heard came from her darling five year old son.  
  
 The frantic mother searched for anything that could have elicited a terror filled scream from her little boy but as soon as her senses cleared, the once actress stared in confusion then later amusement at the sight before her. Her husband and their guest stopped short from where she was at the entrance of her son’s room, her husband placed a hand on her shoulder and looked over her to see what the fuss was about, ready to spring into action should he see any threat, stuck in the same adrenaline filled haze his wife was a few short moments ago, unable to fully comprehend that there was nothing to fear.   
  
Their guest however immediately shook from her shock and blinked in disbelief, gently pushing past a quietly giggling Yukiko to address the so called threat “Kuroba Kaito! How many times have I told you not to wander off without my knowledge??”   
  
The little messy haired boy jumped at his mother’s accusing tone, he blinked owlishly at her before grinning wide, indigo eyes shining with the same boundless energy that rocketed within him “Kaa-san you never told me I had a twin!” He pointed excitedly at another boy in the room with him, of course this one didn’t seem too pleased with suddenly finding out that he had a doppelganger.   
  
The boy flinched when he pointed at him, eyes wide and mouth agape in pure shock and underlying horror, pressing closer to the corner of the room he had jumped to. He made a small whimpering sound and turned an accusatory gaze at his parents “A-Are you replacing me?” The older Kudos looked to each other in surprise then laughed at their son’s question.   
  
The little boy didn’t take too kindly to their reaction and began to sniffle in response only to yelp when his supposed doppelganger sprinted across the room and wrapped his arms around him then glared at the adults, holding him as close as possible as if to shield him from their laughter “Hey! You shouldn’t make fun of kids jus’cos they’re gonna cry! “   
  
The other boy glared at his twin and tried to shove him off, rubbing one of his eyes when he felt something damp “I was not gonna cry!”   
  
Kaito gave him a disbelieving look and held him at arm’s length with his body still blocking the other from the view of the adults “Was too! You were gonna cry! I saw it!!”   
“Nu-uh! Boys don’t cry!”  
  
“Ya-huh! And boys can cry too!! You were gonna!”  
  
“Nu-uh! Was not!”  
  
“Was too!!”  
  
“Ah, Shin-chan we’re so sorry!” The two boys broke their argument to look up at the ex-actress who now only smiled in amusement. She walked to where they were sitting, pausing only when Kaito gave her a weary glance which she responded with a soft smile, she squatted down then ruffled her son’s hair which he squawked at, batting her hand away half-heartedly “Of course we would never replace you my sweet baby boy! We should have told you we had guests today” She smiled at the two of them then turned to Kaito “Why don’t you introduce yourself sweetie?”   
  
Kaito turned a bright smile towards his twin at this and held his hand out “Hiya! I’m Kuroba Kaito! You’re Shin-chan right??”   
  
There was a moment where the other boy hesitated but glared slightly at the mention of the nickname, he shook the other boy’s hand “Kudo Shinichi, not Shin-chan, don’t call me that”   
  
Kaito puffed his cheeks and stuck his tongue out “Boo, Shin-chan sounds better!”   
  
Shinichi huffed and rolled his eyes at Kaito and the other boy only laughed in response “Well I’m guessing that’s settled?” Yukiko stood back up and turned to the other two at the door who watched the exchange with small smiles.   
  
“I’m sorry that Kaito caused such a ruckus Yukiko-san, Yusaku-san”  The boy’s mother Chikage apologized.  
  
Yusaku and Yukiko simply scoffed “It’s no problem Chikage-san, no harm done right? Shinichi was only surprised”  Yusaku was quick to assure. The adults watched in amusement as Kaito produced a small slightly wilting flower from out of nowhere while Shinichi simply gave him a flat stare and told him that he saw the flower coming out his sleeve which Kaito denied with fervor.   
  
After watching over the two fondly, Yukiko piped up “Shin-chan, do you want to go play with your new friend?” She smiled at them, albeit excitedly at the prospect of her darling son gaining a new playmate.  
  
Shinichi looked horrified for a second, turning his wide blue eyes towards his mother then at Kaito then at a wall “I dunno….” He spared a wilting glance towards the other boy who was practically bouncing on his heels at the prospect of a new playmate. It was almost as if Shinichi knew that Kaito would wear him out the second he agreed to it.    
  
“Aw c’mon Shin-chan!!” Kaito tugged at the other boy’s shirt repeatedly, causing Shinichi to tilt to the side with every jerky movement. Seeing that the other wouldn’t let up, Kaito paused for a second then glanced suspiciously at the adults in the room with them. He edged closer to the other boy and kept darting his eyes towards the adults. Shinichi watched him with curiosity and instantly understood that Kaito was about to tell him a secret, he leaned forward when the other boy beckoned him so that he could whisper in his ear “..how about I show you how some of my magic tricks work? I never _ever_ tell nobody ‘bout how magic happens! Only my dad knows cause he taught me! And he said I should be super duper extra careful to keep it a secret so you should be glad that I want to tell you!”   
  
Shinichi pouted at him but seemed to take his words into consideration “…but I don’t wanna know how it works, I wanna figure it out myself”   
  
This didn’t deter Kaito, rather it seemed to push the other boy on “Then I dare you to figure out ALL my tricks! Loser has to get the winner candy!”   
  
Shinichi frowned “I don’t want candy….”  
  
“WHAT?! What kind’a kid are you?!”  
  
“One who don’t get cavities!”   
  
“That’s sad Shin-chan! And you’re making me sad just thinking about it!” Shinichi sighed at Kaito’s pouty expression.   
  
The little boy winced when the other began to get all teary eyed “Fine, whatever….if I figure out how you do it, then I get to pick what I want. If I don’t figure ‘em out, then I get you candy, deal?”   
  
Kaito smiled that same toothy smile and clapped his new friend on the back, Shinichi wheezed “Deal!” He grabbed the other boy’s wrist and pulled them both up, making his way past the adults with a sputtering Shinichi “We gotta do it somewhere secret! I don’t want the grown-ups to know how magic works!” He raced down the hall and turned back once to wave at his mother “See you later mama!”   
  
Chikage chuckled at this and waved back until the boys rounded a corner, the only indication that they were there being the sounds of Shinichi telling Kaito to slow down and Kaito’s happy laughter following the demands “Aw, isn’t that cute Yusaku?” Yukiko latched onto her husband’s arm and beamed “Our little Shin-chan made a friend”   
  
Yusaku sighed with a smile on his face “Hmm, I just hope Shinichi can handle Kaito-kun, what do you think Chikage-san?”   
  
The older Kuroba chuckled and followed the other two adults back to the library where they were having their talk before the little debacle with the two boys “If he’s anything like you two, I’m sure Shinichi-kun will handle my son just fine”   
  
In another room, the two boys sat in across each other on the floor, one watched the other closely while the other performed various tricks “Okay, how does this one work?” Kaito produced a coin, tapped it once, gave it to Shinichi to test it then proceeded to run the coin across his fingers, it was fast but not too fast that Shinichi couldn’t tell where it was. Then he clapped his hands together just as it was about to make another round in his hand and grinned as he showed Shinichi his empty hands “Where’s the coi-“  
  
“Behind your hand”  Shinichi said without skipping a beat.  
  
Kaito frowned at him and produced the coin again with a flick of his wrist “Fine you got that one but that was a lucky guess!”   
  
Shinichi only smirked at him and leaned back, using his arms to support his weight as he did so “I guess you’re just not a good magician yet”   
  
Kaito gasped, scandalized by the mere thought “No way! I’m plenty good!” He huffed when Shinichi only gave him a sideways glance, the same smug smirk still plastered onto his face. Kaito produced the coin again and this time he placed it onto the palm of one hand and kept the other one close but empty. He sent his companion a challenging gaze which Shinichi returned “Guess how this one works” Kaito immediately flipped his hands down and closed them into fists, making a show by blowing into the hand which held the coin then slowly opened it to reveal that it disappeared and was now in his other hand which he opened later “Well? You know it yet tantei-kun?”   
  
Shinichi scoffed at the new nickname but was otherwise focused on his own thoughts. The child ran through what he saw, a still silence washing over the two. Kaito for one wasn’t all to happy that it was quiet, the other child bounced in his seat and rolled the coin over his fingers as he waited, he might not like staying still but he was willing to be patient for Shinichi, the slight rush he got from whether or not Shinichi could find out the trick was enough to keep his mouth shut as the other worked through his thoughts.   
  
Finally after a time, Shinichi blinked as if hit by water then he turned a knowing smile towards Kaito, the other boy having paled significantly at the look directed at him “When you put the coin on your palm you placed it on one spot, you looked at it twice too to make sure it was in the right place” Kaito pursed his lips, he _did_ still have a long way to go with his poker face as his dad had told him before. Still, even if he knew he was caught just watching Shinichi pick apart the trick was something of a show itself, he’d never felt a challenge to his own skills like this before.   
  
“When you flipped your hands the coin jumped like this” Shinichi pointed at his own palm, more specifically at the area near the edge of his hand and under the thumb. His pointer finger made an arc towards the position where his other hand should be “’Cos it was placed there, the coin was thrown to your other hand” Then he paused and he gave Kaito a small triumphant look then leaned over to tap at the hand that received the coin “Also, I saw this hand move closer when you flipped them both, meaning you had to move catch it ‘cos it was too far even if you ‘threw’ it” He flicked a piece of hair away from a dumbfounded Kaito’s face before leaning back on his hands, still smiling “See? Not a good magician yet”   
  
Kaito frowned at him but instantly perked up when he registered the last word “‘Yet’? So you think I can be better?”   
  
Shinichi shrugged at him “Well yeah, you’ll get good if you practice a lot, you won’t be bad forever if you practice” Kaito laughed and practically jumped towards him, Shinichi yelled in surprise and was greeted with a face full of clingy magician to be as Kaito wrapped his arms around him in a bear hug.   
  
“Aw! Shin-chan believes in me!!”   
  
Shinichi growled at him and tried to pry the would-be magician off to no avail “Get off’a me! If I can’t breathe then no one’s gonna believe in you!”   
  
Kaito grinned at him, giving him one last squeeze before backing away but still keeping both his hands on Shinichi’s shoulders, a determined look sparking to life behind his eyes as he stared into Shinichi’s own “I won’t let you down Shin-chan! One day I’m gonna be the number one magician in the world and you’ll be super proud with my dad and my mom! And when I am, even _you_ won’t be able to see through my magic!” Shinichi couldn’t help but smile back at Kaito’s enthusiasm but it quickly faltered when Kaito added: “And you’ll be my assistant!”   
  
“Nu-uh, I’m gonna be a detective like Sherlock Holmes!”   
  
Kaito’s grin faltered as well, he let Shinichi go and sat back on his heels, seemingly dejected “But…if you’re a detective how’re you gonna see all my magic shows?” Then he blanched “Wait, if you’re a detective you’re just gonna tell everyone the trick and ruin the fun”   
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes at him but patted Kaito’s head, which surprised the other boy “I promise I won’t do that even if all your tricks are easy. Anyway, detectives can have breaks too so I can come see your magic shows at some point”   
  
At that Kaito brightened up again, holding out his pinky finger as he did so “Swear on it!”   
  
Shinichi shook his head in disbelief but intertwined his own pinky finger with Kaito’s anyway “I swear that I’ll come see one of your magic shows someday”   
  
Kaito, now satisfied, nodded in agreement and shook their fingers once “It’s a promise!”  
   
After which both boys resumed their earlier bet with Kaito throwing every trick he knew at Shinichi and the other boy deflecting all of his tricks with an explanation. By the end of it both of them were surrounded by small flowers, a few cards and many coins as it was Kaito’s specialty. The boys were lying down on the ground on their backs, they sent each other amused glances when their eyes met “That all you got?” Shinichi challenged while Kaito looked up at the ceiling in thought, the other boy tapped a finger to his chin and hummed.   
  
“Mmmm~ Yeah I think” He glared at the ceiling then pouted at Shinichi “Why’d you gotta be so good at the dedup…dekdud…”  
  
“Deduction?”  
  
“Yeah that stuff” Kaito frowned at the word “Do you even know what that means?”   
  
Shinichi hummed “Well…dad said it’s like putting a puzzle together and you know where the pieces go to make a picture” The young Kudo shrugged and turned to his new friend “I guess that’s what it is”   
  
Kaito nodded absentmindedly then sighed “Well, you’re gonna be a real great detective someday” Then he turned a mischievous grin at his friend “You’re not a good detective yet though”   
  
Shinichi glared flatly at him for having turned his words against him, the young Kudo flipped over to his stomach and rested his head on his hands as he looked at a grinning Kaito “I figured out all your tricks” It was stated as if it were the answer to confirming his abilities.   
  
Kaito on the other hand simply shrugged at him “Not all of ‘em…” His eyes slowly moved towards Shinichi’s head and his grin- if it were possible- grew wider. He snapped his fingers and pointed lazily at Shinichi, the other boy tilted his head in confusion and a silky blue ribbon followed his movement.   
  
Shinichi gasped and reached up to pull off the blue bow that he was sure wasn’t there in the first place, he glared at it and turned it around in his hands before flickering his gaze up at the magician “How did you..?”   
  
Kaito tsked at him, waving a finger in a side to side motion “A magician never reveals his secrets” Then had the audacity to look smug and stuck his tongue out “Didn’t you tell me you wanted to figure it out on your own?”  
  
 Shinichi puffed out his cheeks childishly and looked back down at the offending bow “Shuddap, I’ll figure it out!”   
  
After Kaito had been thoroughly scrutinized from a distance, had rulers stuck to his arms and later did the trick again by demand of Shinichi, the would-be detective groaned and stuck the bow to his new friend’s laughing face after finding trouble figuring out how it got to his head with Kaito at such a distance from him. He was truly at a dead end “Don’t feel bad Shin-chan! You got everything else didn’t cha?”   
  
Shinichi sulked beside him as Kaito juggled a few things around, including that wretched bow that Shinichi refuses to acknowledge “Don’t call me Shin-chan….I didn’t get that one…” He muttered darkly and watched how Kaito just made more and more things appear as he juggled until the would-be magician fumbled and everything fell to the ground.   
  
Kaito didn’t seem to mind though and just began to pick up all of his props “You can call me Kai-chan if you want”   
  
Shinichi could have sworn that expression on his face didn’t suit a five year old. It was taunting yet oddly welcoming that Shinichi couldn’t really place what to call it “No, not gonna do that” Shinichi sighed and stood back up, secretly surprised that Kaito managed to clean up so fast but he wasn’t about to say he was impressed, Kaito didn’t need another boost to his ego “So I guess I gotta get you candy”   
  
Kaito let out a happy ‘Yes!’, pumping his fist into the air to add to it “Well you did figure out almost all my tricks…” He said as they moved to leave the room and possibly join the adults downstairs. Shinichi raised a questioning eyebrow at him. Kaito seemed to be thinking hard about something before nodding his head in an all too serious matter “Kaito-sama has decided to share his candy with you Shin-chan!” He pointed a finger between Shinichi’s eyes, making the other boy go cross eyed to follow his finger.   
  
Shinichi frowned at him and batted his hand away “I don’t really wanna eat candy”   
  
Kaito laughed and threw his arm around Shinichi’s shoulders while they walked down the hallway “Nonsense!! You’re just saying that! Wait till we get some chocolate then you’ll see!” The thought of something as absurdly sweet as chocolate entering his mouth made Shinichi blanch a little on the inside, it was then that he decided to shove every single piece of chocolate into Kaito’s share as subtle as he could without the other boy noticing. Yes that’s a good plan.  
  
After the two boys found where the adults stayed, Yukiko was all too happy to provide the candy that was wagered in their little bet. Chikage of course looked over all the sweets Kaito received to make sure that her son wouldn’t have much of a sugar rush later, her little boy was already such a bundle of energy that having him fueled up on sugar was surely spelling for a weapon of mass destruction.   
  
Shinichi on the other hand went through with his plan and sneaked a few extra chocolates into Kaito’s share but was later found out by Kaito himself so it ended with Shinichi tentatively nibbling a piece of chocolate while shooting Kaito exasperated glances, the other boy returning his looks with a cheery one of his own. Needless to say that Shinichi was later dragged off by a sugar high Kaito eager to play tag-and-seek as he so called it “I dunno how to play that!” Shinichi protested, skidding to a halt and dragging Kaito back with him.   
  
“It’s easy! It’s like hide-and-seek but the ‘it’ has to tag the hider then the hider’s gotta tag them back before they lose ‘em and find a good hiding place” Kaito explained excitedly.  
  
Shinichi deflated at that “Sounds tiring”   
  
Kaito shook his head “Naw! It’s fun!!” The game later found both boys panting and miserably tired, with Shinichi repeatedly telling Kaito ‘I told you so!’ and Kaito replying with a cheeky but tired grin and a ‘You had fun though!’  
  
They both agreed that they should have a post-game break by just channel surfing to see whatever was on. Kaito had a bit of a squabble with Shinichi when the other boy caught sight of some suspense-mystery show ( _“Shin-chaaaan! It looks like the kind of stuff grown-ups watch! It looks boooring!”_ ), Shinichi was all too quick to defend the show and somehow managed to sit Kaito down for the first half of what they were watching. He suppressed his smirk when he noticed how engrossed Kaito got with the show, sometimes even telling him to be quiet ( _“I know you might have a theory on how they did it but not now Shin-chan SHH! That’s a spoiler coming from you!”_ ).   
  
Later the both of them began to spew deductions after deductions, some Shinichi had surprisingly agreed to, they completely forgot about the show at some point to debate on who had the better guess. The adults having watched them with an amused fondness, it was nice to see them get along in their own little way. It ended with Shinichi crushing Kaito with his body weight, demanding that he yield and say that his deductions were superior or else he won’t let him go free ( _“NEVER! Kaito-sama will never bow to you Shinichi tyrant!”_ ).   
  
Chikage noticed the time and began to excuse herself, it was quickly getting late “It was fun talking with both of you again, and I’m sure Kaito had a lot of fun with Shinichi-kun as well”   
  
Yukiko and Yusake both smiled at that and stood up to walk their guest out “Yes it was nice to see you again Chikage, tell Toichi that I’ll be looking forward to some more of his shows in the future” Yusaku grinned at the thought of seeing another one of his so and so friend’s shows.   
  
Chikage nodded at that and turned to call her son over “Kaito! It’s time to go home now! Say goodbye to Shinichi-kun!”   
  
Kaito popped his head out from the table he was under while Shinichi only gave him a glance from where he stood near the table, a bunched up table cloth near his feet. Kaito was insistent on making Shinichi his magic assistant by helping him with a vanishing act under the table, hence the table cloth Shinichi was holding just a few moments ago. Shinichi frowned when he saw Kaito visibly deflate but soon recovered by jumping out- slightly startling Shinichi- and turning to him with that same smile “Doesn’t your face get tired from smiling?”   
  
Kaito chuckled at that “Does _your_ face get tired from not smiling??” The pint sized magician then shook his hands, raising an eyebrow at Shinichi as he made a show of letting him know they were both empty.   
  
Then a small white flower popped out which he handed to the other boy, Shinichi gave it a look but took it anyway to twirl it around and inspect it “I _still_ saw it come out from your sleeve” Kaito grinned nonetheless and ruffled his new friend’s hair, Shinichi protested to the action and threw the white flower at him as he bounced away laughing.   
  
The Kudo family saw their guests out the door, Chikage thanked the older Kudos for their time while Kaito gave Shinichi a contemplative look as he held his mother’s hand “Hey Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi frowned at the nickname but ignored it to respond “Yeah?”   
  
“We’ll play again sometime okay?” Then the determined look from earlier returned with more fire “And next time I’ll have new tricks that you won’t be able to see through! You can count on it!” Shinichi felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth as he watched Kaito walk away with his mother “Bye-bye Shin-chan!” Kaito waved at him.   
  
Shinichi also waved but with less hand breaking energy “Bye Kaito-kun”   
  
Yukiko cooed at him after that, picking him up and bringing him back inside “Aww, my baby has a new friend!”   
  
“Kaa-saaan! I’m not a baby!!”

  
Though Shinichi did think back on the strange boy who looked so much like him yet was so different at the same time. It was easy to confuse them as siblings- twins even!- but as soon as either of them spoke it was easy to know which one of them was Shinichi and which one was Kaito.   
  
Shinichi frowned at all their differences, setting aside everything that happened today to the back of his mind, he knew right away that this might just be a onetime thing, he never really liked socializing with kids his age and when he did he just acted too differently from his age group. It often led to a lot of failed friendships and friendships that never even got the chance to start, Shinichi didn’t really want to deal with that kind of experience anymore.   
  
It was mostly the reason why he stayed at home to read all the books his father gained throughout the years, it was a nicer past time to get lost in the words that took him somewhere far away from where everything was. Kaito was…well he was an experience, Shinichi had to admit that that was the longest he had to spend with someone his age and that it was at least enjoyable if not tolerable. Now though, Kaito was gone and will probably not be back for quite some time.   
  
After all….they‘re just too different.  
  
Boy, that was one of the first times Shinichi was proven wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's the beginning of this monster I plan on writing, be warned that I don't plan on a daily/weekly/etc chapter post and will hold back until I've finished the whole story on my own time. This is a first for me to post around here so tell me what you think!
> 
> This idea was just bouncing around my head and I'm a sucker for pairings that share a childhood, so I couldn't help but write, now I must say: THIS IS BASICALLY AN AU. Yes I will still keep to the canon stuff (e.g. Conan still happens) but this time Kaito and Shinichi will have known each other since they were five. Expect a childhood to happen.
> 
> So with that bid you Adieu~!


	2. Bonding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's long, it has children playing games and a bit of a time skip cause hell, it's difficult to write children, ESPECIALLY really young kids, even if those really young kids are smart as hell.

Even at such a young age of five, Shinichi was already a firm non-believer of anything that escapes logical explanation. If it can’t be understood, then you have to study it and hopefully make heads and tails of it later, you have to pick it apart bit by bit and know just how it works or what it is, gather every single detail, all of these could be valid clues. If nothing works at all, it’s probably a lie.   
  
Which is why Shinichi never liked not understanding something, it just didn’t sit well with him that something out there defies reason and is beyond his own human comprehension, in a way it made him feel like he had no control whatsoever. So Shinichi liked to give everything some logical grounds: the supposed monster under the bed doesn’t really exist, just the imaginings of frightened children who can’t see what lies underneath their safe zone, things that go bump in the night are most likely things such as the house settling, a draft wafting through a window or some animal- a bird maybe- flying too low and hit something.  
  
Though it did ease his thoughts about normal childhood fears it also took away a bit of its wonder. Shinichi often wondered if this was why he just couldn’t see the appeal to a lot of things children his age would be delighted over, it was probably why a lot of his classmates called him a downer. What was he supposed to say? That rabbit mascot was just some guy in a stuffy suit, probably sweating a lot or whatever could be happening inside that’s less than appreciated in public. In retrospect he supposed it did sound gross and he couldn’t blame them for how they reacted, but whatever, he didn’t want to be close to a sweaty unidentified human being anyway.   
  
His mother must have noticed something about how he carried himself when he came back from school, she didn’t seem pleased. That was how he found himself going out with her since his father was busy with who knows what today, it must’ve been something big if he was locked in his study.   
  
He pressed close to his mother when they reached a particularly crowded area, she looked down with a soft smile and gave his hand a squeeze as they walked. Beika was just a place filled with giants as it always was in the eyes of a child, so many people and so many places to see that it’s almost too much. Shinichi tends to keep his eyes forward or on the ground, looking up would only overwhelm him with buildings that flew higher than the adults he already thought were too tall.   
  
He never really liked crowds but he learned how to deal with them, there was just way too many faces, way too many people hiding something from everyone else, way too many possibilities of someone committing a crime one way or another. You never know what could be hiding behind a friendly face. His distrusting behavior was probably residue from seeing so many innocent looking people commit horrible acts when his father brought him to his work.  
  
Shinichi had been to a crime scene with his father before, Yusaku tended to stumble across a few when he would take his son out for a simple drive or for some fun activities, not that Shinichi minded since his mind went into instant mystery-otaku mode, sticking close to his father while he listened to him try to reason out what happened as he came up with his own deductions.   
  
Shinichi did notice that most of the crime scenes they came across weren’t all that bad, some thefts and assault cases, but sometimes they would come across the really bad ones and his father rarely let him come see what was happening. There were only a few cases where Yusaku had been slightly careless for Shinichi to get a glimpse of something under a tarp be taken away, although he knew by now that blood doesn’t come from just anything.   
  
Was it messed up for a child to have to come across some of these so early in their childhood? Yes was Shinichi’s immediate answer but what happens happened, he can’t change anything about what he’s seen now.   
  
“Do you remember this place Shin-chan?” The little boy blinked out of his thoughts to look up at his mother with a questioning gaze. His eyes slid towards the closest place they stopped at and saw the small park where he spotted a few children playing in the playground at its entrance. He immediately shrunk away “Oh! Isn’t that your friend?” Shinichi frowned at this but opted to peek from behind his mother’s legs, he looked at all the children happily playing together although one of them seems to be getting the others’ attention…..  
  
Oh Conan Doyle, that’s Kaito.  
  
Shinichi felt mixed emotions about seeing the other boy so soon. It had been a week since the Kurobas visited their home and Shinichi expected that he would carry on with his life as it is, he hasn’t heard anything from Kaito and assumed the other boy just forgot about their time together and was busy with other things and other friends. They were only acquaintances after all and Shinichi didn’t really expect much from him friend wise.   
  
Though it did surprise him that he managed to even catch a glimpse of the other boy here in Beika, didn’t he live somewhere else?  Plus seeing Kaito jovially socializing with the other kids and occasionally impressing them with his magic tricks made Shinichi want to back away slowly, he was all too aware of his ability to drive other people away, if by any chance he stepped in and began to talk he was sure the other kids would get put off somehow. He didn’t want to ruin Kaito’s fun or chance to gain new friends “Go on Shin-chan, why don’t you say hi to Kaito-kun?” Yukiko happily urged.  
  
Shinichi shook his head and kept his eyes to the ground, Yukiko frowned at this and placed a hand on her son’s head “What’s wrong Shin-chan?”   
  
“kaa-san…..don’t call me that” Shinichi mumbled, scuffing the ground with his shoe. Yukiko instantly took this as some sort of inciter to get her son to go over and say hi to his new found friend- ignoring the fact that he refused to answer her question.  She pushed a protesting Shinichi into the playground and kept him at arm’s length when he tried to run back to her. Shinichi gave her a pleading look “I don’t want to go kaa-san”   
  
Yukiko knew that the kicked puppy look Shinichi was trying to pull never failed to melt her heart, but this time she pushed aside the urge to scoop her little boy up and never let him go. This was for his own good after all “Nonsense Shinichi! Kaito-kun is your friend isn’t he? It’s only right that you go over there and say hi” Using his actual name had the effect that the ex-actress wanted as Shinichi shuffled hesitantly, shooting glances towards the boy who was making various objects appear and disappear. Yukiko gave her son a gentle push towards the young magician “Go on Shin-chan, I’ll be right here”   
  
Shinichi sighed and took small steps towards Kaito, planning out just what he intends to say to the would-be magician once he got there. He pushed away some greetings that didn’t sit well with him and tried to ignore the fear that Kaito won’t remember him at first glance and therefore make things severely awkward to start, not to mention those kids might stare at a new comer who claims to know  the little magician they’re currently watching.   
  
Shinichi though had nothing to fear, as he was sorting out his mind and finalizing an appropriate greeting there was an audible gasp ahead of him followed by the sound of running footsteps. Thankfully Shinichi realized what was happening and braced himself against the bouncy magician that just launched himself at him, Shinichi felt his hair get ruffled by excited hands as he met eyes with the very person he was nervous about meeting again “Shin-chan!” Kaito chirped happily while Shinichi grumbled about stupid magicians and getting his hair messed up.   
  
“Hi Kaito-kun” He greeted back timidly.   
  
Kaito didn’t hesitate to grab his wrist and drag him into the center of a small crowd of children, Shinichi felt something within him freeze and found that he’d rather keep his mouth shut for now “Ladies and Gentlemen!” He felt his face heat up with second hand embarrassment as Kaito made what he deemed was a scene. Some of the kids stared curiously at the newcomer who was dragged in by the magician but paid little mind to him to give their attention back to the resuming performance, something Shinichi was eternally grateful for.    
  
The little magician swept an arm out and a small bouquet appeared in it, some of the girls with them giggled and clapped while most of the boys chuckled “I would like to introduce-“ Oh no don’t say it please- “-my lovely assistant! Shin-ch-AH!” Kaito hissed in pain and sent Shinichi a hurt look when the other boy elbowed his side, Kaito laughed- or rather wheezed- nervously at the absolute ‘Say it and I’ll murder your face’ look his friend gave him and chose his next words carefully. Apparently it gained a few giggles from their small crowd “M-My assistant Shinichi who will be helping me with my next trick!”   
  
Kaito produced a blue handkerchief- tossing the bouquet he conjured into the air before it exploded into confetti- flapped it in the wind then showed the audience both of its sides “Hold your hands out please Shinichi!” With a roll of his eyes the young boy did as he was told, Kaito immediately placed the handkerchief on top of his hands and made some weird gestures at it that Shinichi pretended not to see. Kaito then winked at him, taking one side of the handkerchief and pulling it off to reveal…..nothing?   
  
Shinichi looked just as confused at the audience, staring at his empty hands then at Kaito who had the same expression on his face “Huh…that’s not right..I could’ve sworn-“Then Kaito yelped when the handkerchief began to flap sporadically in his hands, the magician fumbled then flapped it again and this time a small white dove came flying out into Shinichi’s hands. The other boy startled then watched it curiously, the dove seemingly doing the same thing.   
  
There were gasps of awe and some claps from the children around them and Kaito grinned, bowing dramatically then making the handkerchief disappear when he stood straight again. The dove in Shinichi’s hand then flew up to his head, cooing quietly then making a nest there, earning some chuckles from the children when he didn’t look too pleased with it.  
  
Kaito hummed happily then snapped his fingers, cards appeared in his hand from seemingly out of nowhere “Now for my next trick I’m going to need a volunteer!” One of the boys stepped forward and Kaito grinned at him “Good! Now I want you to pick a card from this deck- Ah!” He stopped the boy before he could take a card then turned his head away “I shouldn’t be looking because that’s cheating. Shinichi” Said boy hummed in question “Keep an eye on me okay? Make sure I don’t look”   
  
Shinichi shrugged then motioned for the boy to go ahead and pick a card while he kept his eyes on Kaito. He saw him take out a king of diamonds from his peripheral vision while Kaito simply hummed a happy tune “Show it to the audience please~!” The boy did as he was told. Shinichi flinched when he felt the dove on his head move, he almost forgot it was there “Okay now put it back”   
  
The card was set in place and Kaito closed his eyes, absentmindedly shuffling the cards in his hand then stopping to pick out a card. Shinichi frowned, three of clubs. That wasn’t the card. He couldn’t say anything as Kaito looked at the card thoughtfully, he smiled then showed it to the audience “I’m sure this is your card”   
  
As expected the boy scoffed and the audience murmured “No, you got it wrong”   
  
Kaito frowned then looked at the card “Really? Oh right! That’s because this is a disguise!” He snapped the card, making an audible sound of plastic breaking, then in his hand where the three of clubs should be was replaced with the king of diamonds “See? The king was just trying to flee”   
  
The audience clapped and the boy shrugged, muttering something along the lines of ‘eh pretty good’ Kaito smiled happily and made the cards disappear “Thank you very much for enjoying the show!” He said, some children becoming disappointed that he was ending so soon “Please give a hand to my assistants! Shinichi and Nami-chan!” The dove- Shinichi assumed it was ‘Nami-chan’- flew out of his hair and did some circles in the air. Kaito whistled and the dove flew straight into the same blue handkerchief he conjured back up, disappearing once she made contact.   
  
The children clapped their hands in appreciation and Kaito waved at them, dragging an almost impressed Shinichi out of the crowd “Thank you thank you! It was nice to perform for you all!” The children began to disperse once they were out of sight, going back to their usual playground activities before Kaito came in to entertain them.  
  
Kaito dragged Shinichi over to some swings, the young magician wasted no time in swinging on it while Shinichi simply sat still on his, occasionally giving a few small swings when he kicked his legs right “Wowzie! I was sooo nervous!”   
  
Shinichi eyed him disbelievingly, if anyone should be saying that it should be him for getting dragged into an impromptu magic show “You didn’t look like you were nervous” He commented as Kaito slowed down his swings to talk to him.   
  
“Duh, dad said magicians shouldn’t be scared of the crowd, if they panic the people’re gonna see through the trick! Or they’ll mess up their act!”   
  
Shinichi raised his eyebrows at him “Then why did you perform if you were nervous?”   
  
“Practice Shin-chan! If I start now then I won’t have that much trouble performing when I’m a grown up!” Then Kaito huffed a breath of air and laughed shakily “Gonna be honest though, when Nami-chan didn’t come out the first time I was panicking”   
  
“Wait, you mean that wasn’t part of the trick?”   
  
Kaito shook his head at him, slowly coming to a stop “Nope! I’m just really good at swinging with it!” He grinned at Shinichi “And I mean _really_ good if I got you to believe me”   
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes and swung a little more just as Kaito came to a stop “Don’t flatter yourself, and let Nami-chan out of your jacket, I don’t think she can breathe anymore”   
  
Kaito frowned and loosened his jacket a bit at his collar where a small white dove poked her head out, cooing softly “How’d you know?”   
  
Shinichi smirked at him “I was your assistant, dummy. I could see Nami-chan enter your jacket from where I was standing, it’s all about angles right? Magicians might be able to fool the audience in front of them but not their assistants standing right next to them” Shinichi then gave the small dove a scrutinizing look “I have to say, it’s really cool that you have trained doves. Even if all you use them for are silly magic tricks”   
  
Kaito gave him a look between being offended and amused, he dug his shoulder when he swung back down “I take offense to that Shin-chan, on behalf of Nami-chan and her whole family” Shinichi was surprised when Kaito didn’t seem all that bothered with his comment seeing as magic was something Kaito pretty much loved to do.   
  
The last time he made an offhanded comment like that he got hit with a paintbrush from an upset classmate “You could use them for more practical things y’know? Magic tricks are okay but it isn’t exactly needed for day to day lives. Pretty sure your doves could do a lot more useful things” He winced; okay maybe he should have kept his mouth because he knew that even that was pushing it.   
  
To his surprise Kaito seemed to be thinking about what he said before shrugging “They aren’t actually _my_ doves you know, they’re my dad’s!” A pause, then the dove nestling inside Kaito’s jacket was coaxed out with a hand and was now perched on the magician’s arm “I guess Nami-chan’s kinda mine, dad gave her to me and taught her the basic stuff first before I got to teach her things”   
  
“Things like what?”   
  
“Things like this” He snapped his fingers, pointing up as he did so. Nami immediately flew from his hand then did some sort of aerial flight dance before nose diving fast, Shinichi was afraid that the bird would crash into the ground but she pulled up last minute to circle around Kaito then land on his shoulder, ruffling her feathers a bit before settling.   
  
Shinichi scoffed “Okay..I guess that was cool” Kaito grinned at him then pushed off to swing again, Nami didn’t seem too bothered.  
  
“What brings you out here though?” Shinichi tried to match the speed of swing Kaito was going at and was slowly getting to that point, he was slightly annoyed when it seemed Kaito just kept speeding up but he pushed it aside as a trick of the eyes. Before he could answer, Kaito replied cheekily “Did you miss me Shin-chan?”   
  
Shinichi simply gave him a flat stare, wind whipping their hair a bit while they both swung, making it hard to get his look across since he had to blink and brush his hair away. He was afraid that by the end of it he’d get messy hair, but seeing as Kaito already had a bird’s nest on his head Shinichi didn’t think he’d notice anything “Who’d miss you stupid magician?” Kaito laughed at his reply and Shinichi was glad to note that he understood that there was no real fire in it “But really…my mom just thought it might be good for us to go out for a bit, nothing special”   
  
Kaito chuckled when he caught sight of Shinichi’s mom somewhere in the distance waving happily at them and snapping a few pictures from a camera, a camera that Shinichi didn’t recall her bringing but decided not to question it, instead filing it away under ‘How kaa-san works, just go with it’ “Well I’m waiting for my dad! He has a small show somewhere around here and he’s supposed to pick me up, so here I am!” Then he quickly added “I’m really glad too, because I got to run into you Shin-chan! Must be fate huh?”  
  
“Baaro! Don’t just say stuff like that” Shinichi sputtered.  
  
Kaito skidded his swing to a stop then waved his hands at Shinichi as if erasing his comment from existence “No no really! Just think about it yeah? If mom hadn’t told dad to take me out with him, and if I decided to stay and watch his show, then I wouldn’t have been able to meet you again in this playground! But all of those things happened differently and here I am! And here you are! If your mom didn’t think you should go out today I would’ve been bored and alone right now! So yes, definitely points to the whole universe telling us that we should be friends”    
  
Shinichi of course thought that kind of logic was something he wouldn’t give a glance at but hearing Kaito build all of that up just to tell him that they should be friends…..well, it was hard not to give it a pass for now. Shinichi spared him a glance and frowned “You want to be friends?”   
  
Kaito nodded vigorously “Yeah! Aren’t we friends already? Our parents are friends too right? So that’s like…inheritance friendship! It assures that we’ll definitely end up as friends either way so why not start early?” Again, logic that Shinichi chose to give a pass for the sake of his weird look alike friend whose parents just so happened to be friends with his parents.   
  
The young Kudo gave a soft smile in return and Kaito mirrored his expression “Yeah…I think I’d like to be friends too Kaito-kun”   
  
“Just Kaito if you want Shin-chan”  
  
“If I call you Kaito, you should stop calling me Shin-chan”  
  
“Whaaat?! Nooo!”  
  
“Kaito-kun then” Shinichi grinned at Kaito’s sulky expression, honestly Shinichi wouldn’t mind calling Kaito, well, just Kaito but there’s no harm with wanting to have a bit of fun with him. As always Kaito’s mood wasn’t dampened for long and soon he was pulling Shinichi all over the playground while Nami decided to perch on nearby trees as they played. It started pretty normal, Kaito having roped Shinichi into spontaneous tag, a game which thoroughly confused his friend as he would just randomly tap him and yell ‘Tag!’ before running off and later telling Shinichi that the game was finished then repeating the process over and over again.   
  
Shinichi quickly got used to Kaito’s sudden tag game and made sure to hit the would-be magician back just as fast as he would tag him, it always ended with either of them running away from the other as fast as they could then finding higher ground to scramble on and claim as their safe zone ( _“No stupid magicians allowed!” “Oh yeah?! I didn’t wanna go there anyway!!”_ ) Many high places in the playground were claimed by either boy and soon an unspoken rule between them formed stating that no one could be tagged when they reach any of their safe areas.   
  
Shinichi was proud to say that he got to claim most of the benches and tables while Kaito gloated that he at least claimed the slide.   
  
“Yeah but it’s super far away and it’s right in the middle” Shinichi kicked his legs from the bench he was sitting on while Kaito prowled around the area like a shark, waiting for the perfect opportunity to tag his friend. The young Kuroba kept a particular eye on the other boy’s feet just in case they touched the ground and gave him an opening to attack. He multitasked listening to Shinichi reason out why the slide was such a bad claim and thinking of a plan to get the other boy off the bench.   
  
“So? It’s really high up and I have lots of escape routes!” Kaito defended.  
  
Shinichi scoffed and swept a hand around, gesturing to all the benches and tables that he claimed “Yours may be high up but I have a lot of them and they’re scattered everywhere, I won’t have a problem running to any of them if you tried to chase after me” Then the would-be detective frowned “Also your escape routes suck! I could run to any of them before you could even think of getting out!”   
  
“Who says I’m not faster than you?” Kaito placed his hands on his hips and gave Shinichi a flat stare, stopping right in front of him.   
  
The other boy huffed and continued to kick his legs “I do, ‘cos you didn’t catch me when I tagged you and ran to my safe zone”   
  
Kaito shook his head at him and crossed his arms “That’s cause you cheatin’! Every single time we walk close to one of your safe zones you tag me and jump into it! That’s not fair Shin-chan” He looked genuinely upset for a moment and Shinichi faltered.   
  
The young Kudo sighed and jumped off his bench “Y’know it’s called strategy and taking a chance, it’s not my fault you fall for it and let me win all the time” Kaito frowned at him then turned to avoid his gaze, Shinichi grew nervous “Um…are you mad?” The little boy edged closer to where the magician was facing but was once again ignored and Kaito turned his gaze away somewhere else, still saying nothing.   
  
Shinichi wrung his shirt in fear and kept trying to get into Kaito’s line of sight, again and again the other boy would turn away and ignore him, holding what seemed to be a quiet tantrum “Really? You’re upset over this?? Kaito come on..” Shinichi’s shoulders slumped in defeat when Kaito refused to acknowledge him again. The would-be detective sighed and tugged at the magician’s sleeve “Nee, Kaito…don’t get mad, I’ll let you tag me if you want”   
  
Kaito glanced at him but pulled his sleeve out of his grasp, crossing his arms firmly and still looking away from Shinichi “…I made the game in the first place….” He heard the magician grumble. Was he feeling guilty? Did he just ruin his friend’s fun by being too opportunistic and win hungry?   
  
Yep, definitely that’s guilt right there “…m’sorry Kaito” He glanced at the ground, digging it a little bit with the tip of his right shoe.   
  
A small tap to his head brought him back, he stared back into a grinning Kaito’s face “Baaro~ You fell for it” It took too long for Shinichi’s guilt tripped brain to register that Kaito was faking it, tagged him and was now laughing at his expense.   
  
The would-be detective scowled at him and kicked him as hard as he could in the shin, abruptly cutting off Kaito’s laughter “OW! What?!” He turned his hurt gaze towards a fuming Shinichi who continued to glare at him, a different kind of hurt flashing in his eyes .  
  
“What yourself stupid magician!” He made to kick at him again but Kaito quickly dodged out of the way, surprised by Shinichi’s foul mood “What’s wrong with you?! You don’t do that! I thought you were actually starting to hate me! STUPID KAITO!!” Shinichi still tried to kick him but quickly gave up when he realized Kaito would just keep on dodging.   
  
Panting for breath, Shinichi glared with all the heat he had and stuck his tongue out at Kaito before angrily marching back to his bench and sitting there, arms crossed and body hunched close with his back away from the magician.   
  
It was only when he wasn’t being assaulted that Kaito realized just how upset he made Shinichi, he winced and hung his head in shame, he didn’t like it when people were upset yet he made his new friend REALLY upset with him. It painfully crossed his code. He really shouldn’t have played with Shinichi’s emotions like that.  
  
Kaito heaved in a breath and slowly made his way towards Shinichi, sitting down beside him only for the other to pointedly scoot away from him “Shin-chan I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you so upset”   
  
Shinichi gave him a sideways glare and plugged his ears “I don’t like hearing stupid talk”   
  
Kaito squashed down his own hurt feelings, he did start this “Shin-chan- Shinichi please just….I don’t know, don’t be mad at me forever” Shinichi mumbled something under his breath but Kaito couldn’t make out what it was.   
  
The magician scooted closer but one glare from Shinichi warned him that any further and it will result in a lot of physical pain “…m’not gonna be mad at you forever” Kaito whipped his head towards Shinichi when he heard the other boy talk “I’m not a jerk face like you Kaito, I tell you if I’m gonna be mad at you forever or not”   
  
Kaito grimaced at that and nodded “Yeah…sorry….” Shinichi took deep breaths and that was all Kaito heard for a time, they just quietly sat there.  
   
It wasn’t until he felt Shinichi move closer to him that Kaito did the same, the two boys flickered their gazes towards each other hesitantly, and Shinichi sighed “That was dumb…”   
  
Kaito chuckled soundlessly and rubbed his nose “They say you aren’t friends until you’ve fought at least once”   
  
Shinichi scoffed at that “That’s dumb too…”   
  
Kaito swung his legs back and forth on the bench and tiredly tapped his fingers at the same time. He jumped off the bench, much to Shinichi’s surprise, and stood in front of his friend, hands in his jacket pockets and rocking back and forth on his heels “Soooo, d’ya still wanna play?”   
  
Shinichi smiled at that and hopped off the bench as well “Yeah, stupid magician”   
  
The boys spent the majority of their time playing a mix of cops and robbers and the floor is lava, in honesty it did make an interesting game as both of them had to think really hard about how they’re supposed to transfer from one place to another without getting caught. Kaito tried to make a long jump at some point only to crash into Shinichi who tried to get him mid-air, the two of them rolled to the ground in a painful collision resulting in the two of them gaining mutual scratches and scrapes.   
  
Shinichi tried to keep his sobs at bay- hiccupping ever so often while Kaito bit his lower lip to keep himself from making any noise. Yukiko was the one who found both of them like that and immediately chided both of them for behaving so recklessly while she tended to their wounds “Honestly you two, you should know better than to try jumping off high places! It’s very dangerous and I expect you to never do that again!”   
  
Shinichi winced when she dabbed some disinfectant on a scratch on his nose while Kaito whimpered slightly when it was his turn and had some scrapes on his knees treated “Kaito-kun, you should really be careful next time okay? I don’t know what I’d say to your parents about this and I hope this doesn’t happen again. That goes the same for you too Shinichi” The boys solemnly nodded at her and Yukiko gave both of them comforting hugs when she was done patching them up “I just don’t want to see either of you hurt okay? I think you should stop playing for a little while though, understood?”  
  
“Yes mom”  
  
“Sorry again Yukiko-obasan” The ex-actress sighed and gave both boys a squeeze on the shoulder “As long as you both learned your lesson it’s okay” She gave a pause then smiled wide at the two boys “Hey, why don’t we go get some ice cream? Would you like that?” Kaito brightened significantly while Shinichi was only a little less upset but still happy to hear of getting some sort of treat. Yukiko sighed to herself, guess she just can’t help but spoil adorable children but it just wouldn’t make her feel any better knowing that their mood had damped somewhat. She had to do _something_.   
  
A short trip to an ice cream parlor later found the two boys and Yukiko sitting leisurely on a park bench a little ways away from the playground, each one with a frozen treat of their own. Shinichi made a face at the double chocolate slathered with chocolate syrup with added chocolate chips ice cream that Kaito had chosen, he edged his own modest vanilla ice cream away in fear that it could get infected by the diabetic monstrosity that his friend called an ice cream.   
  
Yukiko snapped a few more pictures in response “Gross! Don’t talk with ice cream in your mouth!” Shinichi placed a hand over his own treat when Kaito began to blather on and on about a new trick he was sure his friend wouldn’t be able to pick apart so easily.   
  
“Relax Shin-chan!” The magician swallowed and showed Shinichi his empty mouth “Noh gonga et anhyhing on yoa!”   
  
Shinichi reached over and pushed his friend’s mouth shut “You’re gonna catch flies then they’re gonna lay eggs in your tummy”   
  
Kaito paled “What? Really?” Then he slapped a hand over his mouth fearfully.  
  
“That’s what grown-ups say” Shinichi shrugged and licked at his ice cream, a whimper caught his attention and he saw Kaito staring wistfully at his slowly melting ice cream “Silly! You can eat your ice cream you know” That was all the other boy needed and this time he didn’t have to host a magic show to get the ice cream to disappear.  
  
It wasn’t until later when Shinichi was trapped under Kaito who decided to use him as a bed ( _“I’m gonna bite your hand!” “Beds don’t talk Shin-chan!”_ ) while Yukiko happily snapped some more memories, that someone very special to the younger magician came sauntering in with his own amused smile “I see that you’re getting along fine without me”   
  
Shinichi made an ‘omph’ sound when Kaito used him as a platform to jump off of and land into the arms of the newcomer who laughed and ruffled his hair in greeting “Otou-san!” Toichi Kuroba grinned at his son, hugging him close before turning his attention towards Yukiko and her son who- he noted in amusement- seemed to be glaring at his own son who only smiled at him in return.   
  
“It’s nice to see you again Toichi-sensei” Yukiko walked up to him with her own smile and Toichi responded by taking her hand and giving her knuckles a light kiss.   
  
“You look stunning as always Yukiko-san” He took his thumb, pointer and middle finger and pressed them together in the air, slowly pulling his hand down to reveal a white rose which he presented to the ex-actress.   
  
Yukiko giggled and took it with a thanks while Shinichi stared in awe “Whoa” Toichi heard the young Kudo and turned to smile at him. Usually Shinichi was nervous when adults approached him but this adult didn’t seem bad at all, which surprised the child.   
  
Toichi let his son back down to crouch in front of Shinichi “And you must be the famous Kudo Shinichi I’ve heard so much about” Shinichi bit his lower lip and looked down at his legs with a small nod, noting silently how Kaito looked ecstatic that he was meeting his father “Tell me Shinichi-kun” The young Kudo looked up at him curiously and blinked in amazement when Toichi put his hands together then slowly pulled them apart to reveal a dove, or rather, Nami.  
  
 “Nami-chan!” Kaito exclaimed happily while the dove tilted her head at him.   
  
Toichi smiled “Do you think you can figure out how I did that? Kaito told me that you can figure out all _his_ tricks”   
  
Shinichi gave the older magician a look, he glanced at Nami then back at Toichi. His eyebrows furrowed in thought before he sighed and shook his head “You’re a lot better at magic than Kaito….”   
  
“Hey!” Kaito squeaked in defiance then paused with a grin “Actually, tou-san _is_ better!” He exclaimed with a touch of pride.   
  
Toichi laughed and stood up again, Nami perching on his shoulder automatically “Well, Kaito _is_ in training Shinichi-kun. I expect that he’ll get better in the future”   
  
Kaito preened at his father’s words and jumped his eyebrows at Shinichi who rolled his eyes “Then I’m gonna get better too, so that Kaito won’t be able to trick me at all”   
  
Kaito pouted at Shinichi and the detective to be simply smiled at him “How am I supposed to amaze you with magic if you know how it works Shin-chan? Not knowing everything is part of the fun!”   
  
“I like knowing everything, _I_ think that’s fun” Toichi and Yukiko watched them both; Yukiko snapping a few pictures and Toichi asking if he could have a few.   
  
“Ahh, it’s really nice to see my Shin-chan find such a good friend in Kaito-kun” Yukiko happily noted as she watched the two boys resume that odd tagging game. She was concerned at first when it looked like they had a fight over it later on but was glad to see that it didn’t put a wedge between them for long. She sat on the same bench they had chosen, it wasn’t too far from the playground so she could at least see the two boys just fine.   
  
Toichi sat beside her, taking up the place where both boys once were, the older magician laughed- a soft and almost quiet laugh “It’s a small world though isn’t it Yukiko-san?” The ex-actress watched the magician absentmindedly juggle a few rubber balls, making them disappear and multiply without really watching his hand “I never would have guessed that one day I would be watching such a scene” He smiled faintly when Kaito leapt from his hiding place to tackle a startled Shinichi, the other boy made a small yelping sound before turning around to chase after his laughing friend.   
  
“It’s not a bad scene to see anyway” Yukiko sighed “I think it’s great that your son and my son are able to get along fine” Then the ex-actress giggled “In fact…sometimes they remind me of you and Yusaku” Toichi shrugged nonchalantly but agreed nevertheless, he had heard from his son that he was working to practice hard enough for the younger Kudo to be unable to see through his tricks.   
  
Seeing Kaito so focused on escaping the calculating gaze of a Kudo was somewhat humorous when he thought of himself and Yusaku who constantly kept him on his toes….”Oh you know how it is Yukiko-san, a magician would never be able to develop and hone their skills if a rather harsh critic doesn’t step in to point out what they could do better” He made the rubber balls in his hand disappear and chuckled “And it seems us Kurobas will forever be cursed with having harsh Kudo critics”   
  
Yukiko giggled and leaned back on the bench they sat on “Honestly…you and Yusaku are always going on and on about some challenge or another”   
  
Toichi winked at her “That’s how we become our very best Yukiko-san”  
  
“Mmm? I just hope my little Shin-chan and Kaito-kun won’t be as obsessed with challenging each other as you two are” Though Yukiko knew that it was probably too late to say that.  
  
Soon the parent-child pairs had to go their separate ways; Kaito noted that this time Shinichi was the one who looked a little crestfallen. It warmed his heart to know that his friend had enjoyed playing together as much as he did. So before he left he tugged on Shinichi’s shirt and produced the same small flower he gave his friend before, this time it wasn’t as wilted as the first “I still saw it come out of your sleeve”   
  
Kaito laughed at that and placed the flower in his friend’s shirt pocket “Then I’ll practice so you won’t see it come out of my sleeve anymore”   
  
Shinichi smiled softly and fingered the pocket where the flower was “I hope you’ll be better next time”   
  
Kaito grinned at the implication of seeing each other again, he surged forward and gave Shinichi a hug which was hesitantly returned “Yeah ‘course Shin-chan! I’m gonna be waaaay better!”   
  
Both boys heard a click and Yukiko’s quiet squeal before they separated and took the hand of their parents, walking away to different roads “Bye Kaito!”   
  
“Bye-bye Shinichi!”   
  
Thus ended another day for the two boys, this time Shinichi was a little sure that it won’t be the last time he saw the young magician.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
  
Shinichi was proven right as he began to see more and more of the young Kuroba, whether if it was by chance or if their parents decided to come visit each other he was always a little happy to spend some time with the magician in training. It was no secret that they were starting to grow close, much to the delight of their parents, and in a way it made Shinichi really glad to have met Kaito despite the odd circumstance of their first meeting. He looked back to that day with a bit of humor, he was really surprised that some mirror image of him walked into his room, there were differences of course but the shock of it all clouded his mind with childish fears.   
  
He would always turn away in embarrassment when Kaito would remember that day too, only with more emphasis on him screaming like he saw a real ghost. That was teasing material that the young Kuroba didn’t let go of for quite some time.   
  
Shinichi had also come to like how much effort Kaito put into his magic tricks, although it disheartened the young magician every time he took apart the trick, Shinichi liked seeing exactly what Kaito had thought up when he created it. In a sense it was like getting to know the young magician on another level, the little details and flairs were parts of how he thought and it was all distinctly Kaito.  
  
 Shinichi was very glad to say that he would be able to recognize Kaito’s magic from far away, something the young Kuroba took as a heartfelt compliment and challenge.   
  
Kaito himself also had a way to get to know Shinichi in the way the little detective got to know him through his magic; it was watching Shinichi deduce how his tricks were done. Kaito would listen with rapt attention when Shinichi began to speak, he was guilty of never retaining what he said at times and only listened just to see the little quirks. He noticed that Shinichi liked to touch his face when he thought then place his hands in his pockets when he pointed out important things.   
  
Shinichi liked to pace around a bit when gathering information, something he cheerfully pointed out by grabbing the would-be detective and pulling him away from a table he almost collided with. Shinichi had his own little system when it came to his deductions and whether he admitted it or not, Kaito could see the same dramatic tendencies he regularly had transfer over to Shinichi when he built up his case to the big finish.   
  
Kaito saw that Shinichi liked to leave his particular audience in bated breaths while he himself liked his audience to be absolutely mystified. A want of those kinds of audiences usually cropping up when they challenged each other, it was quite fun actually.   
  
Their relationship evidently grew stronger and despite their somewhat impromptu visits and desynchronized schedules, every time they met up again it was always a fun occasion. Shinichi was happy that someone his age actually got to hang around longer than one minute and Kaito was glad to find a challenger to push his abilities as a magician to the limit.   
  
A year and a few quick months had passed since their first meeting, around this time the boys would have turned six. Shinichi had teased Kaito about being a month younger ( _“Guess that makes me your nii-san~” “What?! No it doesn’t!” “Respect your elders otouto!” “Shinichiiiii!”_ ), this was information that Kaito reluctantly accepted but still blatantly refused to acknowledge publicly. It was a long month of May where Shinichi demanded to be addressed as Shinichi-niisan to which Kaito replied with calling him ‘ni-chan’ instead, stating that he would always be the magician of the show and that Shinichi would always be his assistant.   
  
Shinichi denied this and reminded him that he wouldn’t be his assistant when they grew up anyway, rather a detective in the audience who would see through each and every one of his tricks. Kaito took it in stride but still stuck to calling him ‘ni-chan’ ever so often.   
  
Kaito expected that when he turned six in June, Shinichi would stop teasing, but of course the detective to be didn’t stop for quite some time, it did slow to a point but sometimes it would pop back up. Kaito was happy to say that a few explosive and colorful tricks had gotten Shinichi to at least tone it down, although the sabotage to his tricks that followed soon after was probably earned for giving Shinichi green hair ( _“You’re lucky it was just powder, stupid magician”_ ), but it _was_ funny to see Shinichi try to sneak away and leave a trail of cards and flowers in his wake, he wasn’t as sneaky as Kaito was it seemed. Although _how_ Shinichi was able to find out where his props were kept was something he still didn’t know, he supposed it was a detective thing (and something else to add to his list of ‘Things to improve on so Shin-chan won’t win’).   
  
A quiet afternoon in September had found both boys just lounging around the Kuroba’s garden, Shinichi dropped by earlier to visit while his father was sought out by the police to help them on a particularly nasty case in Ekoda, Chikage was all too happy to usher him in and call Kaito down from his room.   
  
Shinichi had snorted when the young magician jumped down the stairs covered in feathers and confetti, he recognized Nami when she came flying down after Kaito followed by other doves that he assumed belonged to Toichi. Kaito explained that he was trying to put together a new kind of magic trick but as they both could see…he wasn’t quite there yet.   
  
Chikage only sighed and made them go out to the back garden just so Kaito wouldn’t trail pieces of paper and feathers inside the house. So here they were, outside on a semi cloudy afternoon surrounded by the sound of cooing doves, Shinichi could guess that some of them were perched on the one big tree in the garden “So this is where you get all your flowers….” Shinichi mumbled absently, prodding at a small patch of white flowers that he recognized to be the ones Kaito liked to pop into existence (or slip out of his sleeves to be accurate).   
  
The boy in question made a noncommittal sound from somewhere behind Shinichi “Kaa-san helped me grow them. Tou-san said it’s best if I started small but I think I might be ready for bigger flowers soon” Shinichi stood straight again and turned around from the patch of flowers to walk to where Kaito was seated under the tree.   
  
Kaito moved to make room for him when he was close enough, Shinichi shot him a quick thanks before sitting down under the shade “Until you slip one of those tiny flowers past me, I don’t think you should do big flowers like your dad does yet” Kaito leaned against the tree and made a face at Shinichi, raising one hand up lazily for one dove to perch on.   
  
The young magician petted the bird and sighed “Not everyone has your sharp eyes Shin-chan, people don’t make it a habit to notice details. Especially when it comes to magic, people _want_ to be fooled. You’re just a…a critic!”   
  
Shinichi scoffed and reached over to pet the bird as well, Kaito shot him a glare with no heat in it and scooted the bird away from his reach, Shinichi rolled his eyes at him “I don’t get why anyone would ever want to be fooled” Shinichi made a small clicking sound with his tongue and the dove instantly switched from Kaito to him.   
  
Kaito gaped while Shinichi petted the bird with a smug smile “I can’t believe tou-san taught you how to call them….” He mumbled then shook his head “Duh Shin-chan, people want to be in a world full of magic! Y’know, to forget all the bad things and just believe in something amazing! That’s what my dad says anyway~” One day Shinichi could reason the noble thought both the older and younger Kurobas put into their profession, but right then and now he’s just a six year old boy who had a love for logic and understanding.   
  
So Shinichi simply shrugged off Kaito’s response “It’s fake though”   
  
Kaito bumped his shoulder “It’s a nice kind of fake!” Shinichi made his arm jump, shaking off the dove and letting it fly back to its earlier perch in the tree.   
  
The young detective turned to face his friend “Okay, since we have nothing to do right now, why don’t you practice your fake magic?” Kaito beamed and turned to also face his friend, he always liked it when Shinichi would be the one to give him an opening to practice. He had to admit that having Shinichi be the one to look over his tricks made him improve a great deal, since the other boy was always so blunt and left no room for mercy he could adjust his tricks accordingly until Shinichi couldn’t find any holes in his performance.   
  
Even his father had noticed how much his abilities had developed in little over a year, Kaito once saw him smile and shake his head then mutter _“Looks like you found yourself your own special critic”_ , Kaito laughed when his father’s expression suddenly paled before he added _“And at such a young age….”_ He didn’t really understand what the problem was but seeing that expression on his father’s face was enough to make it funny.  
  
To be frank, Toichi had a sinking feeling that gaining a Kudo critic so early would hone Kaito’s skills so much that he would be able to surpass him at an age long before he himself became a well known magician. It sent a mixed ripple of horror and pride through the older Kuroba.   
  
“Which one do you wanna practice first?” Kaito hummed and looked at him in thought, he felt his pockets and noted that he had some cards and coins, flowers too but they might be too wilted to be able to perform (He really had to ask his dad how he kept his flowers so fresh for such a long time).  
  
“How ‘bout the coin tricks I showed you when we first met?”   
  
Shinichi raised an eyebrow at this, expecting Kaito to pull out some new trick he’s experimenting with like he always did, but he nodded anyway “Shoot” It didn’t really matter to Shinichi if he already knew how the trick worked, he knew Kaito only wanted him to judge if his hands were fast enough to evade his watch. There were some who almost made the cut and some that were just way too slow- Shinichi thought Kaito did that on purpose just to throw him off.   
  
One particular trick that Kaito liked to go back to over and over again was the disappearing coin, it looked like he was still struggling to make the coin run through his fingers really fast- Shinichi already knew he wanted the speed that Toichi had when performing this basic magic trick- but he did give his friend credit for being above the pace that other people go for when doing the opening parlor trick to his act “Did you see it?” Kaito held up his empty hand, palm facing Shinichi.   
  
The younger detective nodded to him quietly, signaling Kaito to flip his hand around, the young magician did so and now the empty back of his hand faced Shinichi. Kaito watched his friend’s gaze flicker to his hand then his face before he sighed “You paused when it slipped through your fingers in the switch, then your eyes darted towards it. It’s behind your middle and ring finger” Kaito sighed and pouted at the coin he plucked out from his hand, Shinichi gave him a pat on the shoulder “Just stop looking at it when you switch, you can feel it sliding past your fingers right? That’s all you need to know that it worked. You’re making yourself hesitate stupid magician”   
  
Kaito gave him a tired smile “Spoken like a true critic….” The he shook his head and let out a puff of air, Shinichi didn’t need to look at his eyes to know he was determined to make this work “Okay, feel don’t see, got it. Let’s do this Shin-chan!”   
  
They didn’t practice anything much outside of coin tricks but Kaito was happy when Shinichi found it harder to keep track of his coins. Shinichi didn’t let up either and put his full concentration on the coins sliding past the young magician’s fingers, he _was_ impressed that Kaito was beginning to correct his faults and took most of his advice but he wasn’t about to let his friend off easy. Once Kaito complained that his fingers were starting to rash and hurt from all the coins, Shinichi called off their practice time “Ow…I’m definitely not gonna do any coin tricks anymore….”   
  
Kaito hissed and shook his hand while Shinichi laid down on the grass with his hands behind his head “At least you aren’t all that bad at some of your coin tricks anymore” He peeked up at Kaito’s grinning face from behind his fringe then quickly added “You’re still bad though, not fast enough and you hesitate. Stop doubting yourself” _‘You’re really good’_ it was unspoken but Kaito got the message.   
  
The young magician was absolutely giddy despite Shinichi’s last comments being anything but nice, it was the thoughts behind it that counted the most “Aaw~ Thank you for caring Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes “You’re my friend, of course I care….” He paled when he realized that he just made a Freudian slip and Kaito- ego floating head in the clouds Kaito- just heard him say it out loud. He scrambled to get up the moment he heard the gasp, hoping to find sanctuary with Chikage, but alas he was quickly pulled into the clingy magician’s arms and was having the life squeezed out of him.  
  
 “AAAAW! You really do care! Awawawaaa~~ My Shin-chan cares about meee~”  Kaito cooed enthusiastically.  
  
Shinichi blushed horribly and began to try and pry himself off his practically squealing friend “Let go off me crazy magician!!” He squawked when Kaito began to spin them both around, forcing him to cling onto his friend in fear of getting flung into the next neighborhood “KAITO!” He would forever deny the pitch his voice managed to climb at that moment.   
  
Kaito laughed and squeezed him tight again “Oooh! Kaito-sama managed to break the ice princess’ cold heart-! GAH!” With a dizzy kick Shinichi managed to put Kaito off balance, something he immediately regretted when they were both sent rolling through the grass. He and his friend groaned when they came to a stop but he didn’t manage to stop his guffaw when he looked over and saw Kaito covered with grass from head to toe, Kaito grinned and joined his laughter, just happy that his friend was happy.  
  
“Shinichi-kuuun! Your father’s here to pick you up!” The boys both made a sad ‘aw’ sound and dusted themselves off before entering the house again.   
  
Yusaku raised an amused eyebrow at the two boys who greeted him, he almost didn’t know which one was his son since both of them were messy “I take it you had fun?”   
  
Ah, there was his Shinichi, the little boy who immediately darted his eyes away while the other grinned happily “Mhmm” He grinned and gestured for Shinichi to come follow him back to the car, he faltered when he saw Kaito and his son meet sad eyes before Shinichi got out the door.   
  
“Say Chikage...” Said woman looked up; Yusaku saw the same idea forming in her mind. The two boys were subtle when they perked up to listen to whatever the adults had to say “Yukiko’s been complaining that I’ve been going out too much for my work and sometimes she wants to come with, but we can’t leave Shinichi all alone in our house all the time, especially during the weekends”   
  
Chikage made sure that her thoughtful hum was heard by the children “Well, Toichi has some shows booked for most of the week so it would only be my Kai-chan and I here in our home” Kaito tried to hide his blush from the nickname he was given, he was horrified when Shinichi was sending him predatory looks ‘Kai-chaan~’ he mouthed and Kaito stuck his tongue out at him.   
  
He didn’t mind if Shinichi _did_ end up calling him that, but hearing his mother call him that was just too many degrees of no thank you, and in front of Shinichi’s dad?! Kaito wanted to bury himself “What do you think Shinichi?” The boy stopped teasing his already tomato colored friend to look up at his father.  
  
 “What was that tou-san?”   
  
“Mom and dad are going to be really busy soon and we don’t know if we’ll come home in time this weekend. I was wondering if you wanted to stay with the Kurobas for a while” Kaito snapped his head up at this and Shinichi just looked surprised. The young detective looked at his magician counterpart who was nodding vigorously at him, mouthing ‘Yes! Say yes!!’ over and over.   
  
Shinichi hesitated and flickered his gaze up at Chikage, Yusaku decided to swoop in at that moment “You wouldn’t mind would you Chikage-san?”   
  
“Oh of course not Yusaku~ I’d be happy to keep an eye on Shinichi-kun while you and Yukiko handle your business, it’s just for the weekend isn’t it?”   
  
Yusaku nodded “Mhm, then we’ll come over to take Shinichi back as soon as possible”   
  
Kaito took his chance to tug at his mom’s skirt, directing his most pleading eyes at her “Mooom pleaaase? Shinichi can stay right? Pleeaaaase?”   
  
Chikage laughed a little and petted her son’s hair. She was already going to agree but if she had decided not to, Kaito’s big pleading indigos would have been enough to convince her “Hmm, if you don’t mind spending some time with us Shinichi-kun?”   
  
Shinichi tried to respond but he couldn’t find much of his voice so all he managed was a soft “I don’t mind”   
  
Chikage clapped her hands together “Then it’s settled! We’ll be seeing you again in the weekend Shinichi-kun~”   
  
Kaito whooped and smiled wide at Shinichi “Bring candy!” Shinichi rolled his eyes but he was smiling as he followed his father out “See ya soon Shin-chan!!”   
  
“Yeah, later stupid magician” Shinichi looked out the window and watched Kaito wave him goodbye, he didn’t know if his friend wanted to break his arm off or not judging by how fast he waved. Shinichi timidly waved him goodbye just before they turned a corner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO! I've spent a lot of time writing 9 chapters of this thing and I'm actually pretty winded from writing that much, moreover that most are way above the word count limit of at least 10,000 that I wanted. I'm actually gonna take a small break from writing but I will still upload these chapters that I've written, just as a heads up you know? BUT My fear of having no chapters in advance will keep updates to only Sundays because at least I'm sure I've written new chapters until that. 
> 
> Long story short: I wrote 9 chapters, I'm taking a break because they were long, but the chapters will be uploaded, updates are on Sundays. 
> 
> Adieu~!


	3. Signing a contract

Friday rolled in and Shinichi was honestly a little bit nervous about staying over at the Kuroba residence for the weekend. He looked at the one bag he had to bring that was full of his own toiletries and change of clothes. He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to do once he got to the house, should he help with some chores like he did at home? Should he bring something to give to Chikage? He already had a bag of candy for Kaito like he asked but he didn’t know what adult women liked and frankly that made him panic.  
  
He even tried to ask Ran about things girls liked while they were at school, his friend (now surprisingly not his only close friend) only gave him a weird look just before she dug into her food “Why’d you wanna know what girls like Shinichi?” She frowned then narrowed her eyes at him suspiciously “Do you have a crush on someone?”   
  
He quickly waved his arms in denial “No! It’s not like that Ran! I’m…I’m staying over at a friend’s this weekend and I was wondering what to give his mom….”   
  
His friend gaped at him before pulling him closer to her just as he was eating, he was happy he didn’t choke “ _You_ made a new friend?! How come I haven’t met him yet??” He gave her a flat glare at the implication of the sentence, he _can_ make friends thank you very much, he was just…selective about making new friends. Come to think of it….wasn’t Ran the daughter of someone his parents knew too? Oh gosh, did his only close friends really just come from his own parents’ friendships? He tried not to think too hard about that.   
  
Instead he turned his attention back to his pouty faced friend “It’s ‘cause he lives in Ekoda, my parents know his parents and we just sort of met through them” Ran had that cheeky look on her face in which he realized that she was also remembering how they met through their parents.   
  
Thankfully she decided not to comment on it and eased back into her own lunch “Hnn~ I don’t think you have to worry much about your friend’s mom though, just get her flowers! I know lots of girls like flowers”   
  
_‘Maybe not Kaito’s mom….her husband and her son keep popping flowers into existence every day, she must be sick of it…’_ Ran noticed the face he was making and nudged him with her foot “What’s wrong with giving someone flowers Shinichi? I think she’d like it”   
  
Shinichi pursed his lips into a thin line and shook his head “I just….I don’t think I should give her flowers, maybe something else?”   
  
He watched his friend nibble a piece of her sausage as she thought about a potential gift “Weeell…My mom likes it when dad comes home with small pastries. I dunno, maybe give her something small and nice to eat? Like those mini cupcakes we’ve heard about!” Shinichi considered her suggestion but still felt like he should get Chikage something more for being so hospitable. He wanted to show her how grateful he was for letting him stay over while his parents were off doing who knows what, he felt Ran rub circles on his back comfortingly “Nee, don’t stress too much over it. I’m sure she’ll like anything you put thought into getting for her, so stop being such a downer Shinichi, I’m not used to that face of yours”  
  
“What face? I’m not making a face, you’re seeing things” Ran rolled her eyes at him and told him to just let them both finish their lunch in peace. He _was_ grateful that she gave him a bit of advice though. Later on Ran was all too happy to shoot off more gift ideas on their way out of school, he discarded a lot of them ( _“That’s dumb Ran, as if she’ll like that at all. Are you even listening to yourself?” “You don’t have to be such a jerk about it Shinichi!”_ ) but also took some into consideration like hair clips and other things he considered immensely girly. Then again, he didn’t think he had the money for the really nice ones. By the time he and Ran had to part ways he still couldn’t think of anything to show his appreciation to the older Kuroba, it troubled him deeply.   
  
At present time he sat on his bed and ticked off the too fast hours before he could come over to Kaito’s house. _That_ was another thing that sent him reeling, the idea of actually staying over at someone else’s house for a long period of time. He wasn’t sure how he felt about it, Kaito and him were close enough and that was fine but he wasn’t like Ran who he practically knew from the start. Heck, Ran was someone who had always been around and he spent most of his childhood with her, Kaito and he had been friends for over a year ( _one_ year!) yet he had already been invited to stay in his house for the weekend.   
  
He stayed at Ran’s house too at times but never for whole weekends, plus he wasn’t sure if he could stomach taking the brunt of most of Eri-obachan’s scolding, fine he was at fault most times for being just a bit reckless but they came out fine in the end, could you blame him? He _is_ a kid. Still didn’t convince him that Ran’s mom held something else other than dislike for him, so definitely no long weekend stay overs anytime soon.  
  
 His mind went back to his previous musings: isn’t there supposed to be some sort of friend status standard that constitutes him being able to stay at their house overnight? He might not be an expert on the whole friendship thing (Oh Kami, there were only a few people outside of his family and their family friends who he could consider a friend) but he was pretty sure that something must be up with his current friendship with Kaito. As always his over thinking only caused him more stress, everything going everywhere with thoughts like ‘Kaito’s only being my friend because his parents want him to’ and ‘He’s probably treating me like a pity case’. Nothing was going right in his head and it left a sour taste in Shinichi’s mouth.  
  
“Shinichi! We’re going to drop you off at the Kurobas now, hurry down!” He flinched at his father’s voice, eyes instantly darting to the clock that surprisingly skipped time, how long had he been panicking? Knowing his father, the second he didn’t come down for the first call he was probably making his way upstairs and into his room. The soft knocking confirmed Shinichi’s suspicions and his father came in just in time to see him hugging his legs close to his chest and staring silently at the floor.   
  
Yusaku frowned at the sight and crossed the room to sit beside his son on the bed, Shinichi shifted when his weight made the bed dip a little but his son didn’t change his position “What’s wrong Shinichi?” He heard his son mumble something and Yusaku leaned down to hear “Sorry, what was that?”   
  
Shinichi glanced at him then sighed “…Do you think it’s too late to say that I don’t wanna go?”   
  
Yusaku was puzzled. He frowned at his son and wrapped an arm around his shoulders “Why is that? I thought you were excited about staying over at Kaito-kun’s house?” His eyes flickered towards the bag and he felt a smile tug at his lips when he spotted a few books about magicians mixed in with Shinichi’s usual mystery novel favorites.   
  
He was brought back when his son sighed sadly beside him, he waited patiently for Shinichi to arrange his thoughts before speaking “I just….I’m a little…” Shinichi growled, unable to say what he wanted. He brought his hands up in defeat and slumped against his father’s side.   
  
Yusaku noted every expression and came up with one answer: Shinichi was nervous and probably a little hesitant about being left alone with his friend “Whatever it is you’re thinking Shinichi, you have to remember that Kaito-kun looked just as excited about you staying over when you both first heard about it. I saw your faces, both of you wanted to spend some time together and Chikage-san did say that she didn’t mind you coming over”   
  
Shinichi looked up at him when he started to speak, he had always trusted his father so if anyone should ease his fears it should be him. Yusaku smiled down at his son and brushed away a bit of his hair from his face “Kaito-kun is your friend Shinichi, he’s probably waiting for you right now. You don’t want to disappoint him do you?” The resolve that took over his son’s face was enough and Yusaku stood up, taking Shinichi’s bag with him despite the small protests “Come now Shinichi, we should get going”   
  
“Okay tou-san” He smiled down at his son who instantly stuck to his side like glue. With how smart Shinichi is and how independent he seemed to be at times, Yusaku often forgot that his son was only six and still had some childhood insecurities to work out. He was happy that Shinichi got out of his shell more thanks to his friendship with Ran but at least now he was branching out with Toichi’s boy. The thought made him chuckle.   
  
Yukiko had gushed about the weekend stay that Shinichi was participating in, then got even more excited when Shinichi asked her about what he should give Chikage as a thanks for letting him stay, the ex-actress had sighed about how sweet her little boy was, something that got Shinichi red faced and sputtering. In the end, Shinichi was nervously gripping a small bouquet of flowers and a simple but elegant hair clip (That Yukiko made a last minute dash for) in the shape of a snowflake with dangling little crystals at its tips.   
  
At last their car drove close to the Kuroba residence, slowly coming into view and visible even with the sky darkening. Shinichi immediately spotted Kaito standing around the front of his house, the young magician was gazing up at the sky but immediately looked back down when the sounds of an engine came rolling in. His face had brightened and Shinichi waved at him from the window “Here we are~!” Yukiko’s singsong voice merrily announced.   
  
Shinichi opened his door and pulled his bag out with him, he struggled to stand straight when his equilibrium was jarred with the sudden weight in his arms as the bag fell from the car seat. Kaito was the first to greet him and Shinichi had to right his balance once more when the magician practically collided into him with a hug “Shin-chan~!” Kaito’s happy chirp assaulted his left ear as the magician squeezed him close.   
  
“Kaito…can’t breathe…!”  Shinichi was just about to see spots before his friend had let him go in order to help him with his bag, something Shinichi didn’t want to give up.   
  
“C’mon Shin-chan let me help! Dad says gentlemen should be kind enough to carry someone’s bag!”  
 Kaito was wise to not to say ‘especially for a lady’ even though he had such a temptation to tease Shinichi, he knew better now that he has experienced how painful Shinichi’s kicks were.  
  
“You’re not a gentleman, who’re you trying to fool? I can carry my bag myself!” Shinichi caught a glimpse of something else he brought inside the car then glanced back to Kaito’s waiting look then at his hands which were occupied with his bag and his two gifts for Chikage “..but I do have my soccer ball and I can’t carry two bags so….”   
  
Kaito got the message and hurriedly dove into the backseat to retrieve the bag that had Shinichi’s ball “Got it hime-sama!”   
  
Kaito jumped back out with the circular blue bag, the same stupid grin that Shinichi got used to plastered on his face. He rolled his eyes at the nickname and kicked Kaito for it, though not as forcefully “Call me that again, I dare you Kaito” His friend simply laughed nervously but said nothing else. Good. Yukiko was the one who accompanied them to the front door where Chikage waited patiently, the ex-actress nudged her son forward and Shinichi held up his gifts for her, a faint blush dusting his cheeks “T-Thank you for having me, Chikage-obachan” He cursed himself for stuttering.  
  
Chikage was surprised and looked up to Yukiko in confusion. Her friend smiled at her and made a so-so gesture with her head. Chikage giggled and accepted Shinichi’s gifts, petting the little boy’s hair like she did with Kaito “Thank you very much for the gifts Shinichi-kun, and I’m very happy to have you here” Shinichi smiled at her in return.   
  
Kaito pouted “What? No present for me?” Shinichi threw the bag of candies at him, Kaito immediately beamed and was soon hugging the other boy again much to Shinichi’s chagrin.  
  
“I guess Yusaku and I will be off now, we really appreciate this Chikage” Yukiko then knelt down and hugged her son tight just as Kaito let go of him. Shinichi wheezed in surprised embarrassment “Mommy will miss you so much Shin-chan! Oh my baby boy’s all grown up already!”  
  
  
“Okaa-saaan!” Shinichi protested weakly but hugged his mother back nonetheless.   
  
Yukiko gave him a quick kiss on the cheek which he immediately rubbed at because he knew she was wearing lipstick “You be a good boy for your oba-chan okay? Mommy will see you again soon!” Though Chikage didn’t mind Shinichi calling her oba-chan she sputtered a bit when Yukiko called her that. She narrowed her eyes at her friend and Yukiko winked at her, still waving goodbye to her son as she reached the car where Yusaku waited “Bye bye Shin-chan! We love youuu~!”   
  
Shinichi watched his parents’ car disappear into a corner before Chikage’s hand began to usher him inside “Alright Shinichi-kun, Kaito will help you unpack your things before we have dinner. We have a guest room if you-“  
  
“Kaa-san! Shinichi can stay with me!” Kaito had his hand held up as he suggested this.   
  
Chikage blinked down at him “Ah but it’s Shinichi’s choice where he’ll stay” Her eyes moved to the other boy.   
  
Shinichi played with the end of his jacket sleeve and darted a glance towards Kaito, he didn’t really feel all too comfortable with staying in another house just yet and Kaito…..well he liked Kaito and he supposed he might feel better if he was close to someone he knew “If you don’t mind Kaito?”   
  
The other boy shook his head “I don’t mind! I _did_ suggest it Shin-chan”   
  
Chikage hummed then turned to walk to the kitchen “You boys go on ahead, I’ll get the food ready while you sort things out between yourselves” The two boys looked at each other when she left, Kaito smiled and Shinichi sighed. After agreeing to hold one handle on the bag each, the boys climbed their way up the stairs and Kaito wasted no time in using the bag to drag Shinichi along to his room.   
  
The first thing the young detective noticed when he was dragged into the room was the rather large picture that almost took up an entire space between the wall and the floor. He wasn’t quite sure what to make of it but…. “That’s a nice picture of your dad”   
  
Kaito stopped dragging his friend’s bag across the floor to stop and smile at the picture “Mhm! I think this used to be dad’s room but he let me have it. I’m pretty sure he built that picture into the wall, I tried moving it before but it won’t budge”   
  
He shrugged as Shinichi went over to get a closer look at the picture “I don’t mind though~ Dad looks pretty cool. It’s kind of like a motivational poster!” Shinichi gazed up at the moment captured and framed, of Toichi smiling on stage with his beloved doves and looking as sharp as any magician would be, the spotlight shining bright to give him all the attention. He recognized the fire in his eyes and noted that he would sometimes see that in Kaito too, it wasn’t hard to imagine a grown up Kaito in the place of Toichi on the picture. Like father like son and what not.  
  
“What’s it like to have a magician as a dad?” Kaito at this point had taken his seat on a chair and was spinning himself around. Shinichi had moved to put his bag somewhere where it won’t cause trouble for either of them.   
  
“Pretty cool!” Kaito responded once his chair spun around to face Shinichi “Dad likes to take work home sometimes so I get to see a few tricks he hasn’t shown his audience yet. It’s like always having a VIP pass to a really cool magic show!”  
  
 Kaito spun the chair around one last time but started to feel a little dizzy. He didn’t even notice Shinichi come over to steady him as the chair stopped, he blinked dazedly at his friend then laughed a little as he accidentally slumped into him when he moved to stand “I get to have front row seats to his actual magic shows too~”   
  
Shinichi huffed and made him lean on the chair “Oi oi, I don’t know where you keep your futons, don’t fall over without helping me first”   
  
Kaito smirked at him from where he leaned on the chair “My bed is pretty big, unless you’re shy Shin-chan~” Kaito got a soccer ball to the face for his troubles.  
  
With a futon now neatly spread next to Kaito’s bed, Shinichi stalked out of his friend’s room and decided to check on Chikage in case she wanted help with anything. He blatantly ignored his friend who came running after him just as he was halfway through the stairs “Shin-chan I was just kidding!”   
  
Shinichi side eyed him “It wasn’t funny”   
  
Kaito raised his hands up in mock surrender just as they went past the last step “I get it, I get it. Shinichi-dono doesn’t like being teased about being shy”   
  
Shinichi blinked when a yellow rose suddenly took up his whole line of sight, he pushed it out of the way to stare at Kaito in disbelief “When did you….?”   
  
The magician grinned “You like my new flower trick?”   
  
Shinichi stared at the yellow rose and took it out of Kaito’s hands to examine it thoroughly. He noticed that Kaito wasn’t wearing a long sleeved shirt so how- oh “Nice try Kaito” He tucked the flower behind a confused Kaito’s ear and wordlessly walked into the kitchen.   
  
“Eh? Eh?? Shin-chan? S-Shinichi? Did you figure it out??” He was met with silence and Kaito couldn’t tell if he was just confused or insulted that Shinichi wouldn’t say if he knew how the trick worked and left him there in silence. Kaito looked into the kitchen in time to see Shinichi helping his mother bring out the food, Chikage asked him to get the plates when she spotted him and he did so without complaint, staring at Shinichi in wonder the whole time.   
  
He was still staring at Shinichi even as they were eating, he vaguely heard his mother talk about the places she used to go to before she settled down with his dad in Japan, Shinichi was responding kindly until he met Kaito’s gaze “It’s rude to stare”   
  
Kaito narrowed his eyes at him then plucked the rose which was still behind his ear out “Did you figure out the trick or not?”   
  
Shinichi hummed at him and continued to eat as if he didn’t hear. Kaito crossed his arms and huffed, gaining an amused scoff from Shinichi “You’re a good cook”  
  
 Kaito frowned…huh? Chikage giggled at this “I think that answers your question Kai-chan” He turned his confused gaze towards his mother this time, did he miss something?   
  
“You smelled like smoke and sauce when you ran up to hug me” Kaito looked back at Shinichi and instantly focused on what he was trying to say when he realized that was Shinichi’s detective voice “The moment I came into the house I smelled the same thing only fainter, so that could only mean you were close to the yakiniku that was being cooked” Shinichi’s eyes went back to him and he set his chopsticks down for the moment as he spoke “I only figured out that you must have been cooking some because of the spots of oil stains on your shirt along with some of the sauce and again your scent” His eyes travelled down to Kaito’s shirt then at the rose “There’s a bit of sauce on the rose” Was his last statement before he picked up his chopsticks again and resumed eating.   
  
Kaito looked at the rose in his hands and indeed saw the bit of sauce, he fingered his collar where he knew he spilled some on. He smiled “Well done tantei-kun~ but you only got that one because I was a bit careless”   
  
Shinichi mirrored his smile, swallowing his food before responding “How will you ever hope to be a great magician if you aren’t careful? Tsk tsk Kaito-kun~ That’s strike one”   
  
Kaito sighed dramatically “Bested yet again by my favorite critic!”   
  
Chikage suppressed her urge to squeak at how adorable they were being, instead she decided to touch upon the subject of her son’s cooking skills “I’m glad to hear that you appreciate Kai-chan’s efforts Shinichi-kun, he wanted to make sure that everything was absolutely perfect before you came. I don’t think I’ve ever been ushered out of the kitchen so quickly!” Chikage grinned “He kept telling me ‘Kaa-san I wanna make the food! It’ll be like doing something special for Shinichi!’ Of course I stayed close to help but my Kai-chan was absolutely focused on the task that I didn’t think I was needed much”   
  
  
Kaito had become a red tomato at this point and he refused to meet Shinichi’s gaze, the other boy was rather flattered and felt his own blood rush to his cheeks. Shinichi coughed and turned back to his food, unsure of what to say “O-Oh” Was all he managed.   
  
Kaito was now reduced to quietly eating his food while shooting some glances at Shinichi who didn’t look up at all, he sent his mother a wilting glance and Chikage shrugged innocently “I’m done with my food, so I guess I’ll retire to my room for now. Kaito you know where to put your dishes, direct Shinichi-kun to where to put his own too okay?”   
  
Chikage gathered her own used plate and glass and walked back to the kitchen to deposit them. She came back around then made her way to the stairs until it was just the two boys seated in silence. Kaito laughed awkwardly “Sorry about my mom and…yeah..”  
  
 Shinichi’s eyes flickered up this time and he felt a small smile worm it’s way into his face “’Something special for Shinichi’?”   
  
Kaito stammered “Y-Yeah, cause this is your first time staying over at my house…and I uh, I wanted to do something….that you know and I was just- cause you’re my friend so- right?”   
  
It made no sense whatsoever but Shinichi choked back a laugh at Kaito’s nervous blather, he covered his mouth with a hand and shook with contained laughter “Aw Kai-chan~”   
  
Kaito blubbered even more when Shinichi called him Kai-chan “Ahaha, yeah b-but like- yeah friendship!”   
  
Shinichi shook his head at him and began to gather up his used dinnerware once he finished “C’mon prince charming, you gotta tell me where to put the dishes” Kaito nodded and quickly finished up his own dinner to lead Shinichi to the sink where they both left their plates to soak before bounding up the stairs together ( _“You did a good job though” “Yeah?....thanks Shin-chan, glad you liked it”_ ).   
  
After the boys had taken turns preparing for sleep in the washroom, Shinichi made a beeline for his futon and was ready to call it a night, if it weren’t for his companion who had taken every precaution not to let him sleep by bouncing all over the place and sometimes moving him from his position under the blankets.   
  
Even though Shinichi had insisted that he needed to sleep already Kaito had none of it and tried to convince him to stay up a little while longer “It’s the weekend Shin-chan!”   
  
Kaito bounced on his bed while Shinichi covered his head with his pillow underneath his futon, trying his best to block out the annoying buzz coming from his friend “So what if it’s the weekend? It’s not like we can do anything anyway” Shinichi slowly shuffled out from under his blanket to glare at the magician “Can’t you wait until tomorrow?”   
  
Kaito groaned and fell back into his bed, sighing loud enough for Shinichi to hear “But I can’t sleeeep! The moon is out and it’s shining so bright! It’s telling me ‘come play Kaito’!”   
  
“If you’re hearing voices I think I can get you help” Shinichi tiredly looked up at the edge of the bed until he was greeted by a familiar smiling face.   
  
“Nee nee, Shin-chan, do you know what I really like about tonight?” At the deadpanned stare that met his own Kaito continued with a cheeky grin “Tonight’s my favorite cause my friend’s with me”   
  
Kaito looked straight at him and Shinichi felt the start of a blush but then something popped out from underneath the magician’s blanket, it took a second for him to realize what it was “Nami-chan~!” Kaito petted the bird and Nami happily cooed at him. Shinichi huffed and threw his pillow at Kaito “Phe!”   
  
Nami had the foresight to fly away and perch herself on the windowsill just as the pillow hit Kaito in the face “Go to sleep, idiot magician” Shinichi gave him one last whack for good measure when he came to retrieve his pillow.

He yelped when two arms wrapped around him from behind “Jealous Shin-chan?” Kaito teased.  
  
Shinichi turned his head to glare at him “Let go of me”   
  
There was an edge of a threat in there but Kaito didn’t seem to notice “Joking, Shin-chan~ I was just joking” He let Shinichi go, not until after he gave his friend’s hair a good ruffle “Nami-chan was my favorite of course, but you’re my new favorite Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi peeked up at him from under his now messed up hair, the child decided that he was going to sleep anyway so he made no move to fix it. He also decided to ignore the heartfelt edge in Kaito’s tone to bury himself back into his blankets “Yeah yeah, just go to sleep Kaito. I’ll see you in the morning”   
  
Kaito made a noise between a short laugh and a sigh. In reality he was really excited to have Shinichi around, he figured that was why he couldn’t sleep but he respected Shinichi’s wish to go to sleep early. After all the other boy was right, they had a whole day ahead of them, there’ll be lots of fun things to do.  
  
 Kaito gave his friend one last look before flopping into his bed, he really was growing fond of Shinichi but that didn’t surprise him, he tended to get quickly attached to anyone he’d befriend. It was only an added bonus that Shinichi was someone who could compliment him well. With that cheerful thought, Kaito tried his hand at falling asleep, later wishing that he could obtain it as easily as Shinichi did.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
The morning that came was somewhat out of Shinichi’s routine. Of course the little boy was a bit confused when he first opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling. Shinichi yawned and rubbed his eyes to chase away the dredges of sleep, he hummed and stayed still as his mind slowly registered back into reality “…that’s right…..” He mumbled to himself “Mom and dad dropped me off at Kaito’s house…”   
  
He turned his head towards the bed beside him and wondered if Kaito was still asleep, he probably was. It seemed like Kaito to take up as much sleeping time as possi- “Good morning sleeping beauty!!”   
  
Shinichi wheezed when a sudden weight dropped on top of him, he gasped in a lung full of air and glared at the young magician currently sitting on his stomach “..Kaito…”   
  
The boy in question laughed with a closed mouth, he turned his head to the side and put his hand in his hair “I was getting worried that a witch cast a sleeping spell on you, but of course no one can beat _my_ magic”   
  
Without looking he conjured up his signature small white flower and offered it to Shinichi with a wink “So while you were under the spell, I went off and fought the witch and so here you are! Finally awake!”  
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes, it’s way too early for this. He plucked the flower from Kaito’s hand and set it somewhere behind him “If you don’t get off me I think I can try my hand in casting my own brand of sleeping spell”   
  
Kaito’s eyes darted to the soccer ball in the corner of his room, he swallowed and quickly got off his friend “H-Hey now! It’s all fun and games until a demon comes to eat you, no need for that!” Shinichi slowly sat up and breathed deeply. He blinked at Kaito who now took to snooping around his opened bag. He could vaguely register his friend questioning him about the books he brought but other than that it just sounded like they were underwater, he never really was a morning person.   
  
Kaito watched from the corner of eye as Shinichi finally rejoined the land of the living, he was surprised himself that his friend hadn’t woken up earlier than him, then again he did have the habit of wanting to see the sunrise. Still, it paid to have a head start, who knew Shinichi talked in his sleep? He grinned then decided that teasing Shinichi this early might be a good way to start the day “So…who’s Ran-chan?”   
  
It had the desired effect because Shinichi suddenly froze up in the middle of fixing his futon, he whipped his head around to meet Kaito’s eyes “H-How..?”   
  
Kaito skipped over to him and began to twirl around Shinichi’s vicinity “Awaaa~ Shin-chaaan~! I thought a witch had casted a spell on you but I guess I was wrong!” He threw red heart shaped confetti at Shinichi who was doing his best impression of a fish _‘Augh, okay don’t think about that. Shin-chan is not a scaly demon’_ Instead he pushed himself into Shinichi’s personal space with a smirk “Looks like an enchantress got to you first Shi-ni-chi~”   
  
Kaito laughed when Shinichi’s face went completely red “SHUT UP IT’S NOT LIKE THAT!!”   
  
He jumped away in time just as Shinichi grabbed his pillow and tried to whack him. Kaito grinned “Oh my! This spell is a really tricky one~! I don’t think I can help you with this one Shin-chan!”   
  
“KAITO SHUT UP!”   
  
“There’s no shame in this! Enchantresses are very pretty!” He snorted when Shinichi tripped over his own futon but had thankfully landed on the pillow he was wielding as a weapon.   
  
“idiot magician” Shinichi grumbled from the floor.   
  
Kaito chuckled and walked over to brush away the red heart confetti that stayed stuck in Shinichi’s bed hair, he crouched down and winked at his friend “Aw don’t worry Shin-chan! Secrets are a magician’s specialty”   
  
Shinichi huffed and blew a piece of confetti at him before he picked himself up “Shut your face, I’m going to the bathroom”   
  
Kaito watched in amusement as Shinichi practically ran out of his room “Ok~ay! I’ll be downstairs!” He heard a faint ‘I don’t care!’ from the direction of the bathroom as he stepped outside. Man, this looks like a great start.  
  
He was nibbling on a piece of toast when he noticed Shinichi come around to the kitchen, his friend had changed into a yellow T-shirt with two green stripes in his chest area and loose blue shorts. Shame, he really thought the cloud patterned pajamas looked cute “Ohayo~” He greeted from his chair.   
  
Shinichi gave him a tired glance “Ohayo..” Shinichi had taken his seat from last night across from Kaito and reached over to take one of the pieces of toast Chikage had prepared as soon as her son had come down the stairs.   
  
“Ohayo Shinichi-kun!” Chikage poked her head out from the kitchen to give both the boys a warm smile “So, do you boys have anything planned for today?”   
  
“Ah yeah kaa-san, I wanted to take Shinichi to the park and do a little bit of sightseeing” Kaito gave Shinichi a reassuring look when the other boy narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously.   
  
Chikage didn’t notice the exchange and if she did she didn’t say anything “Really? Well as long as you stay safe and come home on time. Oh! And I’ll be out for a bit in the afternoon, if you come home around lunch you know where the leftovers are right Kaito?”   
  
Kaito made an affirming sound from around his toast “Nnnh, I have my key too kaa-san”   
  
Chikage went up to the table and gave her son a small kiss to his temple, then she went around to ruffle Shinichi’s hair a bit- well it was more like she just fixed it up with her hand “Then I’ll leave you two on your own for now, just call if you need anything~” The boys watched her go until she was out of their sight.   
  
Kaito absentmindedly rubbed at the spot where she kissed him “Hmm, it’s weird how girls always give away kisses”   
  
Shinichi swallowed his food and curiously peered up at his friend “Weird? How??”   
  
Kaito made a show of counting off his fingers “Well, kaa-san I can understand but sometimes there are these girls at my school, they do stuff like ‘blowing kisses’ or kissing some love letter they wanna give. It’s not just that too, they do it on TV and stuff, like a lot…it’s kinda…gross”   
  
Shinichi shrugged but he somewhat agreed with his friend “I guess it’s a girl’s way of showing her love?”   
  
Kaito made a face “Yeah but like they do it all the time, it’s freaky”   
  
“Wouldn’t you like to get a kiss from a girl one day?” Shinichi chuckled when Kaito choked on his water, the magician glared at his friend.   
  
“Probably but right now it’s gross” Then his gaze turned teasing “I’m guessing _you_ want a kiss from this Ran-chan?”   
  
This time it was Shinichi’s turn to choke, he sputtered at the magician “O-oi! It’s not like that! And how do you even know her?!”   
  
Kaito’s grin widened and he made a shooing gesture with his hand while he propped his chin up with the other “Oooh~ You told me, last night and this morning actually”   
  
Shinichi grew wide eyed “No I didn’t!”   
  
Kaito let out a scoff “Hn? So then you weren’t dreaming about a ‘cute girl’ while I was still wide awake?” Shinichi had paled at this point and Kaito was cackling like a maniac “’Raaan-chan~! I really like you! You’re cuuute~~’”   
  
“SHUT UP IDIOT MAGICIAN!” Shinichi made a mental note to never fall asleep first when he was in the same room as Kaito. Never again. The rest of the morning passed with Kaito trying to flee from a fuming Shinichi’s wrath.  
  
  


* * *

 

“No no seriously, who is she??” Kaito rubbed at the spot where Shinichi managed to hit him with a marble. Kaito made a note to never let Shinichi anywhere near spherical objects, those could turn into lethal projectiles with just a nudge from Shinichi’s foot.   
  
They were walking together to where the nearest park should be, Kaito took the lead of course and would point out where to turn from time to time. Shinichi had taken his blue draw string bag containing his soccer ball, something Kaito eyed with skittish eyes, but he supposed that his friend had a point to bring the ball since they were going to a spacious park anyway. He had never really seen Shinichi play so he’s partly excited to see how good his friend actually was, even if he did have an idea already if any of the jaw breaking kicks sent his way said anything. Shinichi looked at him then shrugged his bag up a bit “She’s a friend, I’ve known her since…well forever I guess? I don’t really remember a time where she wasn’t there”   
  
“Eeeh? Heehee, so I guess she’s one special lady to you huh?”   
  
Shinichi huffed and looked away from him, turning his nose up as he walked “Like I said, it’s nothing like that! Ran’s a good friend s’all”   
  
Kaito rolled his eyes with a snort “Sure sure, I definitely believe you Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi ducked his head to hide his blush “Believe what you like idiot magician” Kaito happily slung an arm around his shoulders in response.  
  
 The park that Kaito took him to was definitely bigger than the park where they had run into each other a long time ago. Shinichi spotted several people hanging around with friends and family, there were even some kids attempting to fly kites even when the wind wasn’t as strong as it was yesterday. The young Kudo could appreciate the steady buzz of noise in the park, it wasn’t like city noise rather a warm and welcome noise that mixed the usual sounds of nature and the happy chatter of people.   
  
Kaito took a deep breath beside him and turned to flash him his signature smile “So? What’re we waiting for? I thought you were gonna show me some cool soccer tricks oh great soccer player Shinichi-sama~” Kaito snickered at the shove he got in response and quickly followed Shinichi into the park when he began to power walk away from him.   
  
“Just wait until you’re awed into silence” Shinichi sent him a smirk.   
  
Kaito mirrored it “Hueee~? Is that a challenge I hear?”   
  
They reached a fairly empty field in the park and Shinichi took out his ball from his bag, he set it down and kept it in place with his foot “Hnn? Are you sure you want to play against me? I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned any secret soccer skills. I don’t think this is your division, idiot magician”   
  
Kaito felt his hackles rise to meet Shinichi’s challenging gaze, alright so what if he didn’t play much of the game? He knew enough and he refused to back down from his friend’s challenge, after all Shinichi _did_ goad him on “Be prepared to put your money where your mouth is Shin-chan” He grinned “You’re not good until I’ve seen you play”   
  
Shinichi smirked “You’re on”   
  
It was really odd having to play two-man soccer, at least that was what Kaito thought. He was afraid the moment Shinichi began to kick the ball up and down with only one foot but he managed to keep a straight face on when Shinichi shot him a smug smile _‘Poker face all the way Kuroba’_ If he started showing any signs of intimidation he was sure that his friend would sniff it out and take advantage of it.   
  
Playing against Shinichi was nothing like playing against his classmates during P.E., he was a one man show and he had to defend and attack all on his own, it wasn’t like he could pretend to chase the ball when Shinichi was totally honed in on him and his movements, added that Shinichi scared the living daylights out of him when he steals the ball didn’t help at all.   
  
So far he was able to hold his own against the aggressive soccer player, Shinichi had yet to kick the ball to his assigned ‘goal’ behind him. Kaito didn’t think he had much hope in scoring a goal when Shinichi zeroed in on him like a lion, his strategy mostly consisted of keeping the ball away from his friend long enough to tire him out, though he didn’t feel all too good himself.   
  
Kaito quickly swept the ball to the side just as Shinichi ran for him, he watched his friend skid to a stop and turn so quick that Kaito had to blink twice at the speed, he choked back a scared whimper and began to kick the ball away from his friend as much as possible “If I had known you’d turn into a scary soccer demon I wouldn’t have agreed to this!” Kaito had managed that in one breath as he kicked the ball behind him in time when Shinichi made a move to steal it.   
  
Both boys stared each other down, panting hard from having to play the game for a time “Oho? Are you scared of a bit of competitiveness?”   
  
Kaito stuck his tongue out and ran with the ball again with Shinichi close behind “I’m scared of getting my legs taken off!” The young magician wiped away a bit of sweat from his forehead only to yelp in surprise when Shinichi sprinted ahead of him and steal the ball.   
  
Shinichi circled around him once then sped off to the direction of his goal. Kaito squawked in surprise then gritted his teeth and forced his legs to run faster even when he felt his lungs practically burn from the inside. He let out a huge huff of air when he got close to his friend, Shinichi looked over his shoulder then smirked at him before running faster, Kaito was sure his friend had taken it easy on him when Shinichi didn’t look as out of breath as he was.   
  
He knew it was over the moment Shinichi paused with the ball and pulled his foot back for a kick, Kaito slowed down and collapsed to his knees instead just as Shinichi delivered the ending kick and sent the ball through the two trees he deemed as his goal. He heard Shinichi whoop in joy but he was way too tired to care and just fell forward on his face, panting heavily.   
  
The crunch of grass above his head and a glimpse of black and white made him look up, he squinted a bit because of the sun but it was soon shadowed by Shinichi’s triumphant grin “Game over magician-kun~”   
  
Kaito let out a breath and placed a hand over his chest, feeling his heart thud wild against it “Haaah, haaa! Couldn’t you h-have-“ He swallowed a breath and turned himself around so that he was lying down on his back “-shown a- haaah!- bit of m-mercy for a beginner?”   
  
Shinichi sat down next to him, trying to catch his breath as well. He glanced down at his frowning friend and grinned “I did”   
  
Kaito gave him a look of disbelief “You call _that_ mercy?!”   
  
Shinichi hummed and leaned back with the support of his hands “To be fair, you played pretty good for a beginner”   
  
Kaito didn’t have enough energy to fully appreciate the compliment, instead he let out a groan and felt his leg twitch when he did so “I don’t think I can walk anymore, tell kaa-san I love her and tell tou-san I figured out his trick” Shinichi smiled and shook his head at him when Kaito began to moan about how unfair life is and that he’ll have to hold magic shows in a wheelchair for the rest of his life- later commenting that he’ll be the greatest wheelchair magician anyway.   
  
The young Kudo stood up- leaving his still sulking friend on the ground- and steadily made his way to his blue bag and reached inside for the two water bottles he had the foresight to bring along with some towels. He could still hear Kaito make his ‘dying wishes’ when he walked back to his friend, Shinichi touched the bottle to the side of Kaito’s head and chuckled when he saw his friend visibly flinch “Quit whining Kaito-hime, you just need to rest for a bit” He deposited a towel on his friend’s face and took his previous seat beside him, wiping away his sweat with his own towel.   
  
He watched Kaito slowly sit up with a wince from his peripheral vision. He frowned, maybe he _should_ have gone little bit easier on him “Don’t give me that face Shin-chan, a game’s a game and you won. I took your challenge in the first place even when I knew you were a soccer monster” Once he got the cap off his bottle, Kaito took a long swig of his water, basically chugging it. He let out a happy exhale when he finished drinking, his bottle contained less than half of the water he began with “And I had fun, so everything’s okay”   
  
Shinichi smiled at this and looked up at the sky, looks like it was going to be a sunny day all the way, he could barely see any clouds. A sigh beside him brought him back, before he knew it Kaito was leaning on him for support and Shinichi winced at the sudden damp heat that hit his shoulder “Aw gross Kaito, you got your sweat on me”   
  
His friend simply grinned up at him from behind his hair as he used his towel to wipe away his sweat “I can barely feel anything below my neck Shin-chan, you’re gonna have to carry me home later” Shinichi decided not to shove Kaito off when he saw how tired the magician was.   
  
He looked at his watch and noticed that they missed lunch, well they could always stop and grab some food somewhere, but he’ll have to ask Kaito about that later, he wasn’t familiar with Ekoda. For now he’ll just let his tired friend rest and gain his energy back “How do you have so much stamina?” Kaito suddenly asked, evidently curious about how Shinichi didn’t look like he would keel over like he was going to.  
  
Shinichi shrugged at his friend’s question “I just like playing soccer” Was his simple answer.   
  
It didn’t really occur to him that he’d need any other reason, that was for the future to tell “Soccer jock” He let an amused smile grace his face.    
  
Shinichi bumped Kaito lightly for the comment “Magic-otaku” Kaito made a small yellow rose pop into existence as a response, Shinichi commented that he saw him swipe it from his pants pocket.   
  
Later, Shinichi had complained that his behind was starting to get numb from just sitting around. Kaito in return complained that he was too comfortable to move. So Shinichi simply stood up and let his friend flop to the ground, the magician didn’t make a move to stand while Shinichi gathered his things “Seriously Kaito, I’m hungry, let’s get some food somewhere”   
  
Shinichi nudged his friend’s body with the tip of his shoe, Kaito batted it away “I’m dead, don’t bother me”   
  
Shinichi made a thoughtful humming sound and squatted beside him “Oh no, this looks like a murder, I guess it’s up to me to find out who the killer is!” He stood back up and tapped his pointer finger to his chin, occasionally humming in thought and prodding at Kaito’s limp form. He circled his friend and made a show of feeling the grass around him, then he snapped his fingers “Of course! It’s so simple!” He knelt down beside Kaito’s head, his friend stayed completely still despite being amused by what was happening “The culprit…” Shinichi raised a hand then pointed dramatically “IS YOU!” Kaito went cross eyed when Shinichi pointed at him, he blinked questioningly “Cause of death:  being a drama queen and succumbing to his idiocy, thinking that the cold hard dirty ground is a good place to roll around”   
  
Kaito sat up at this and shot him an amused glare “I take offense to that”   
  
“Wow looks like he faked his own death too and made his family worry for nothing. What a jerk” Shinichi grinned at him then stood up and offered his hand “Let’s just find a place to get sandwiches at, hurry up idiot magician” Kaito smiled and let Shinichi pull him up, the two of them took the long way out of the park.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
They were able to get food at a small café, Shinichi didn’t really want to be stuck inside a stuffy place so Kaito had suggested that they just pick one of the outside tables. Shinichi had frowned at him when he got a slice of cake, telling him that it wasn’t a proper lunch “I’m just telling you that you shouldn’t eat those kinds of things all the time! One day you’re gonna die of diabetes and I’ll be there to say I told you so on your death bed”   
  
Kaito sighed dramatically “Fine mom, I’ll get something else but I still want the cake”   
  
Shinichi huffed “Next time _I’ll_ handle the money”   
  
The cashier who handed them their food giggled at them, they turned towards her in confusion “Is there something wrong?” They said simultaneously.   
  
They made a face at each other and the cashier only sighed happily “Ah, I wish my twin sister and I got along like you two do” She smiled at both of them “It must be nice to get along with your twin nee?”  
  
Shinichi laughed and shook his head “Oh no! We aren’t-“   
  
Kaito clapped a hand over his mouth and grinned at the lady “Yup! Shin-chan and I get along just fine! I don’t think we could ever part for long either!”   
  
The girl behind the counter giggled at them again and handed Kaito their food “That’s good, family is very important after all. Well go on and enjoy your meal you two”   
  
Kaito grinned and pulled Shinichi out the café with him “We will! Thanks nee-chan!”   
  
Shinichi heard the girl sigh out ‘cute~’ before he was out the door “Why’d you lie to her?” Shinichi asked once they were seated and Kaito handed him his sandwich, he narrowed his eyes at him when he went for the cake first before the sausage bread that he bought.   
  
“Well~ It’s not much of a truth stretch, we _do_ look alike anyway so in a sense we _are_ twins. Besides, I thought it was funny that we could be mistaken like that”   
  
Shinichi took a bit out of his sandwich but made sure his eyes conveyed his dislike for what his friend did “A lie is still a lie Kaito, even if you don’t mean anything bad by it”   
  
Kaito frowned at him and sighed “I get it, don’t do it again…still” He smiled a bit as he popped the first piece of his cake into his mouth “You gotta admit that looking alike has potential for some really fun tricks!”   
  
Before Shinichi could ask, Kaito was already shooting off what they could do together “We could do a teleportation trick! We can pop in and out of different places really fast! Or that split in half one and you can run around once ‘I’ve’ been cut, hey! Maybe we could also do an escape trick where one of us waits outside and the other one slips through an escape route!”   
  
Shinichi raised a hand up to stop Kaito’s blabbering, his friend was confused but kept silent when Shinichi made a move to talk “First of all: I’ve told you a lot of times already that I don’t wanna be your assistant. Secondly: Now you’re just thinking up excuses to get lazy with your magic, lots of magicians can do most of what you said on their own. Thirdly: BaKaito! As if I would let you put all of our training to waste! I know you’re slowly getting better each time and if you make me do this it’ll all be for nothing! So you can forget about it!” With that Shinichi turned all of his attention to his sandwich; it’s a pretty good sandwich.   
  
Kaito on the other hand had paused completely, he stared at his friend as if he grew a second head, he wondered if he heard those words right for a second before shaking off that train of thought. Shinichi wouldn’t say something without meaning it. He felt a giddy smile grace his features as he thought of being lucky enough to have met a good friend like Shinichi, he poked at one of the chocolate chips on his cake absentmindedly as he gave Shinichi his most thankful gaze without his friend ever knowing that he did “Okay” It was short but his response was enough for Shinichi who spared him a smile, he had never meant one word as much as he did at that moment. They ate in comfortable silence.  
  
Kaito was still nibbling on the sausage bread he bought long after they had departed from the café, Shinichi tsked at him as they walked “See? I knew you shouldn’t have eaten the cake first, now you can’t even finish that bread”   
  
Kaito gave him a flat stare “Shuddap, I’m still gonna eat it, it’d be a waste of money if I didn’t”   
  
This was said while he had the bread in his mouth so Shinichi didn’t hear anything but muffled garble “Don’t talk with your mouth full, you might choke”   
  
“What are you? My mom?” Kaito had at least pulled the bread out of his mouth to talk to his friend this time.   
  
“I’m pretty sure by now that you’ll need more than two parents to keep you alive” Was the deadpanned response.   
  
Kaito grinned around the bread in his mouth then hooked his arm into Shinichi’s own before running off in a sprint “O-OI!” Shinichi managed out as Kaito zipped them through the crowd.   
  
“We’re burning daylight Shin-chan!” Kaito looked behind him once to address his friend “I wanted to take you someplace else for a bit!”  
  
“Eeeh?! Where??”   
  
Kaito looked over his shoulder and winked at him, bringing his index finger to his mouth “It’s a sur-prise~!” Shinichi for the life of him couldn’t figure out exactly where Kaito was dragging him off to. He noticed that the sausage bread had disappeared as they ran, part of him idly wondered if Kaito really ate it or just made it ‘disappear’ like most of his props.   
  
He was pulled to a stop just as they neared a corner- actually he was harshly pulled to Kaito’s side just because he couldn’t stop his feet in time with the young magician. He felt his breath get knocked out of him when he hit the wall with an audible thud, Kaito’s guilty hand on his chest and pressing him as close to the wall as possible “What was that for-?!”   
  
“SHH!” He snapped his mouth shut when Kaito turned to look at him with a serious expression. Now that just made him curious.   
  
He edged closer to where Kaito was peeking behind the corner of the building that was hiding them from anyone coming from the road ahead, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he caught sight of what looked to be an entertainment hall “Tou-san is there right now” He turned back to his friend who only had a glint of something mischievous in his eyes that Shinichi didn’t like.   
  
“How do you know?”  
  
 Kaito had looked around before grabbing his wrist and inconspicuously walked them closer to the target building, well, as inconspicuously as two six year olds can be by darting into any hiding place as quick as possible “When you were still sleeping this morning I got to snatch a copy of tou-san’s schedule” They were close to the entrance and Shinichi expected to be dragged through the front doors but was surprised when Kaito made them circle around to the back instead. Kaito made him duck through the bushes and took the lead from then on. Both of them crawled around for a bit before Kaito continued “He’s supposed to be performing today, right here in this building”   
  
Shinichi brushed off some stray leaves away from his head and watched Kaito slowly look up from behind the bushes and glance from left to right “What are we doing here then?” He took the offered hand from his friend and pulled himself up to jump over the bushes with Kaito.   
  
Shinichi was immediately instructed to stay close to a wall again while Kaito peeked around the corner “We’re gonna watch his magic show of course!”   
  
“Hah?! Then why didn’t we just go through the entrance? Your dad would’ve let us have front row seats right?”   
  
Kaito made a shushing motion and Shinichi heard voices from behind the building, he heard some of them complaining about some wardrobe malfunctions and guessed that most of them must be performers “Usually he would have, but tonight it’s a full house” Kaito whispered and waited until the persons were gone, the sound of a door opening and closing being Shinichi’s indicators.   
  
“Not to worry though Shin-chan!” Kaito smiled at him and pulled him around the corner to duck behind the stairs leading to a back door “I know a good place to watch tou-san up close” It didn’t take long for new performers to go out back, it seems these people wanted to smoke. Kaito was quick on his feet and pulled Shinichi up the stairs as well when the performers’ backs were turned, he opened the door for his friend and followed straight away. The adults outside oblivious to the two kids that snuck in.   
  
Shinichi had to duck behind a backdrop the second he entered into the building since there were performers and stage technicians flooding the place, Kaito had quickly found him and joined him in his new found hiding spot “What now genius?” He hissed as someone passed them shouting about a lost fire dancer being a safety hazard that must be found straight away.   
  
“Now we have to go find our seats” Kaito grabbed his wrist again and Shinichi couldn’t protest loudly as it would give them away, he frowned, since when did he agree to this anyway? He made a note to whack Kaito over the head later for dragging him around so much. They used the shadows to their advantage and had luckily escaped the sight of anyone running backstage, Kaito had to sometimes block him when they moved since his yellow shirt stood out in the darkness and the young magician’s own dark blue shirt concealed them both well enough.   
  
They came across a hallway that had multiple doors, and Kaito had sprinted ahead of him, Shinichi waited anxiously when Kaito reached the end of the hall and turned a corner. He didn’t see his friend for a while then Kaito came back around the corner and motioned for him to come. Shinichi ran as quietly as possible but startled when a door behind him began to open and voices wafted through the air “Huh…No sorry, I don’t think I’ve seen Hideyoshi-san around”   
  
Shinichi hid behind the open door just as a security guard and a ballerina stepped out “Tch, he must be around here somewhere. Honestly, that guy’s gonna run his career to the ground if he keeps disappearing like this” Shinichi looked ahead to see Kaito peering cautiously around the corner, the magician made a shushing motion and Shinichi nodded “I’ll be looking forward to your performance though Yuki-san, I know you’ll do great. Just keep an eye out for that stupid dragon okay?”   
  
The ballerina smiled and thanked the man, closing the door as he turned to leave the hallway. Shinichi took this opportunity and sprinted towards Kaito, his friend pulled him to the side just as the man from earlier looked back in confusion, he thought he had heard someone. With a shrug he continued to walk away, meanwhile Kaito and Shinichi held their breaths until he was gone “That was close! Good job Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi glared at him and whacked the back of his head with a hand chop “I can’t believe I let you rope me into this! We’re practically trespassing!”   
  
Kaito hissed and rubbed at the assaulted spot behind his head and nervously smiled at his friend “N-Now now! You don’t need to get so upset about this Shin-chan, I promise we’ll zip in and zip out without anyone noticing” Kaito then walked up to the black stair case and gave Shinichi an expectant look “You coming?”   
  
Shinichi grumbled about ‘aiding and abetting’ but followed his friend up the stairs “What if someone goes down?” Shinichi was still careful about making his steps too loud but Kaito didn’t seem to care if his footsteps would be heard all the way to the other side of the world.   
  
He spun around to face Shinichi and the other boy thought his heart stopped when Kaito teetered too close to the edge of the step he was on “Baaro! You might fall!”   
  
His exclamation was ignored to answer his previous question “Don’t worry Shin-chan, this is where the stage techies go to check on the spot lights, you heard the performers right? They’re about to resume so everyone in charge of the lights should be done by now and are probably at the control center” Reaching the top and last step, Kaito pulled Shinichi up and began to lead him to a platform where some lights were attached, the way to it circled around the stage.   
  
Once they were there Shinichi looked down and- ignoring the sudden drop of his stomach at the height- saw that the front of the stage was located below them. Kaito sat down at the edge while Shinichi opted to be a little further than that “I’m assuming you’ve been here before?”   
  
“Mhm! This is where I go when I want to really watch tou-san up close, don’t tell my parents though, they don’t know about this” He winked at him “It’ll be our special secret” Shinichi rolled his eyes, great he was an accomplice now. He let his mind wander just as the hall began to fill up again with people who had gone out for the intermission. There was a steady stream of chatter while the performers prepared for their individual acts. Shinichi swore that he heard the same man from earlier shouting about finding the stupid fire dancer’s alcohol stashed into a corner, he decided to file that information away for now.  
  
“Nee Shin-chan” He turned his head to look at his friend while Kaito swung his legs back and forth “I hope you don’t mind coming up here with me, I really wanted you to come see one of my dad’s magic shows. I couldn’t find any other time to do it” Then he had this emotion in his eyes that Shinichi couldn’t really place, it looked like a mix between calm happiness and pride, it wasn’t obvious on his relaxed expression but…it felt that way to Shinichi “You’ll get to see the man who shook the magic world up close, someone I really look up to” His eyes landed on Shinichi again, the same weird emotion behind them.   
  
This time the young Kudo couldn’t help but feel a twinge of excitement for Toichi’s performance. He turned his attention back to the stage when the audience quieted down to murmurs and the lights dimming into almost complete darkness, the stage itself was shrouded with a dim light “Ladies and Gentlemen” A voice echoed from seemingly everywhere and the crowd’s murmurs heightened in response “Tonight you shall be taken to a world where everything is possible. Don’t turn away, don’t blink, for you might miss something amazing” Doves flew in from the sides of the stage, circling the center in an almost frantic manner, Shinichi gasped when the doves seemed to catch fire before exploding outward and revealing a smiling Toichi. The audience clapped in appreciation and Shinichi decided to follow them, Kaito smiled.   
  
Shinichi couldn’t take his eyes away from the whole performance, he _had_ admitted to himself that Kaito’s own tricks had impressed him at times but it was almost nothing compared to what Toichi did- no offense to his friend. Toichi surely had experience under his name, Shinichi couldn’t even bother to pick apart what was happening, the older magician’s presence on stage was captivating and he had his audience watch his every move.  
  
Sleight of hand was something Toichi could pride himself on, many of the things he brought into view such as the standard bouquets of flowers to long canes and animals (doves being the majority) were almost untraceable with his finger tips. Toichi had a wide range of different kinds of magic tricks, all of which he performed flawlessly. Kaito had laughed when unsuspecting audience members were suddenly being levitated and spun around in the air much to their delighted surprise.   
  
The one that Shinichi found particularly amusing was the water trick where Toichi pretended to trip and spill a whole bucket full of water only for it to freeze mid air and break into snow that fell _upwards_. Shinichi was able to catch one of the flakes and was surprised to find that it really was an actual snowflake, Kaito only grinned at that and told him to look back at the magic show.   
  
Most of Toichi’s last performances consisted of escape tricks, the one that actually scared Shinichi was called ‘death bed’ where Toichi had to escape from his confinements before a plate full of spikes slammed into him from above. Shinichi had flinched when the timer blared zero and the plate fell at an alarming speed, his hand flew over to grip at Kaito’s shirt as he watched wide eyed at the scene. The audience gasped when it hit the spot where Toichi was only to applaud when he jokingly shouted “CALL THE PARAMEDICS!” And a spotlight instantly travelled to the audience where Toichi sat unharmed amongst the crowd. The young Kudo slumped heavily against Kaito in relief while his friend patted him on the head as he chuckled.  
  
Shinichi was a little disappointed when Toichi was starting to draw his show to a close, the older magician took his hat off and bowed to the audience “Thank you for accompanying me through the world of magic tonight” He smiled and snapped his fingers, doves came around and flocked him “I hope to see you all again next time” Toichi stepped back and sprinted into a running start, his doves following him from behind. He leapt off the stage and dissolved into feathers before everyone’s eyes while his doves all took off to different directions. The audience cheered and clapped loudly for the performance they were given.   
  
Shinichi had also clapped with them, Kaito doing the same only with more energy “So what do you think Shin-chan?”   
  
After everyone had calmed down and the next performance was announced, Kaito and Shinichi had stood up and were preparing to get out of the entertainment hall “That was…wow” The young Kudo didn’t think he had a description anyway.  
  
Kaito beamed at his friend’s answer, Shinichi could see him swell with pride “I know! Tou-san’s the best! Someday I swear I’ll be as good as him!”   
  
“You’ve got your work cut out for you”   
  
Kaito laughed “Yeah, looks like it”   
  
They grinned at each other but the moment didn’t last long “HEY!” They stiffened and looked over to the other side where a guard shined a light at them “What are you kids doing here?!”   
  
Kaito immediately grabbed Shinichi’s wrist and launched into a sprint “Whoops! Time to go Shin-chan!” Shinichi didn’t need to be told twice.   
  
The boys bolted to where the stairs were, Shinichi was afraid that they could topple over and fall from the speed they were going at once they reached the stairs, they took three steps at a time and the guard’s angry shouting only encouraged them to speed up even more. They ran past the hallway and back into the fray of performers who had jumped away in shock at the sight of the two children running off.   
  
The back door was in sight and they both brightened at it only to be pulled back by their shirt collars and lifted off the ground “Hey! Let us go!!”   
  
Kaito struggled against the guard’s hold, trying to kick at anything but the guard held them away from his body “You kids are in big trouble” The guard growled angrily.  
  
Shinichi had an idea at that moment, he shouted in surprise and pointed behind the guard “HIDEYOSHI-SAN!” The guard immediately snapped his head to the direction where Shinichi pointed. The boy took his chance and kicked at the guard’s head causing the man to yelp and drop them both to cradle his head.   
  
This time Shinichi was the one to pull Kaito by the wrist “HURRY!” They jumped out the door and ran around the building and to the entrance where they mixed in with the crowd.   
  
They both panted for breath, Shinichi supported himself with his hands on his knees while Kaito leaned on him “Good quick thinking skills there Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi groaned “Don’t you _ever_ make me do that again”   
  
Kaito shook his head and stood up straight “No promises Shin-chan” He was just happy they got off scot-free-   
  
“Ahem” Kaito froze at the voice and Shinichi cautiously turned around to see who it was, his friend didn’t need to.   
  
“A-Ah…tou-san….” Shinichi froze.   
  
Toichi looked down at both of them with a disappointed frown, the magician’s arms were crossed on his chest as he tapped one foot on the ground repeatedly, the shadows that were cast on his face making him look ten times more intimidating “Just where did you two come from?”   
  
Kaito turned around and laughed nervously at his father, it quickly faltered when Toichi raised an eyebrow at him “You s-see tou-san, it was- ah- um, we were g-going somewhere…” Kaito trailed off, he knew for sure that his father wouldn’t fall for any of this.   
  
Toichi turned his gaze towards Shinichi who flinched and looked to the ground immediately “Shinichi-kun? Care to explain for my son?”   
  
The young Kudo bit his lower lip “Eh, ah…we were backstage Toichi-ojisan…”   
  
Toichi sighed and shook his head at them “This discussion isn’t over, I’m taking you home right now then I’m going to have a word with the both of you” It was stern and left no room for objections, the smile and the joy in Toichi’s eyes when he was on stage was nowhere to be found. A firm line for the mouth and hardened eyes taking its place. Kaito winced at that and Shinichi hissed in a breath. They quietly followed Toichi on the path back to the Kuroba residence.   
  
Kaito walked close to Shinichi and rubbed the back of his neck “Shinichi…” He started softly, his friend glanced at him but didn’t say anything “Sorry for getting you in trouble with me”   
  
Shinichi sighed “I agreed to come, I’m just as responsible for this as you” It was then they both decided to face their scolding head on together.  
  
Chikage wasn’t too happy with them either once they got back, she had been worried sick since they hadn’t returned yet and proceeded to tell them off for staying out so late. Toichi then had his turn by lecturing them about responsibility and recklessness after Kaito told him where they went.  
Kaito got told off for inciting the event and Shinichi got told off for not preventing it as soon as Kaito suggested it. They were to be confined to the house for the whole day tomorrow.  
  
Now in their pajamas and forced to have to sleep early, Kaito flopped into his bed with a sigh while Shinichi began to settle into his futon “I’m really sorry Shinichi” The boy in question looked up from his position on the floor “The first time you stay over at a friend’s house and you get grounded?” Kaito made a pitiful noise from the back of his throat “What a crummy first experience…and it’s my fault”  
  
Shinichi frowned and climbed up the bed where Kaito laid face down on his pillow. He sat at the edge and reached over to pat Kaito on the back, startling his friend into turning his head to the side to look at him “Hey, don’t beat yourself up over it. Yeah, it sucks that we have to stay in the whole day tomorrow but I had fun today” He gave Kaito a bright smile, it took a moment for his friend to reciprocate that smile “It’s not like we don’t have any more chances to do stuff together, this is just one day off, I think we can manage something”   
  
Kaito huffed a laugh and turned himself around so that he was on his back “I guess you’re right…besides I’ve got a lot of tricks I haven’t shown you yet too!”   
  
Shinichi chuckled and ruffled the front of Kaito’s hair “There you are idiot magician”   
  
The young Kudo laughed when Kaito tried to shake his hand off only to succeed in messing his hair up further, Kaito retaliated by pouncing on him and ruffling his hair up worse than his own, they had commenced a wrestling match later on.  
  
The following morning, Chikage decided to check on the two and opened the door to her son’s room since Kaito hadn’t come down yet during his usual time. She was about to call out for him but paused in the doorway in surprise, she giggled and went out again then came back with a camera to snap a photo of the adorable scene before her. Kaito had fallen asleep on his stomach while Shinichi slept on top of him, unconsciously nuzzling the young magician’s hair. Chikage made a note to remind herself to send the picture to Yukiko later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My summer break is ending now actually, I don't know what that spells but I'm hoping that I'll still be able to update and write despite that.
> 
> Anyway! to clear something up, I know it must be weird that six year olds can go far from their houses and move around a big place like Ekoda, but in reality this is actually based on my own little cousin in good ol' Japan! :D It was surprising even for me but they really do teach a lot of independence over there, she's even been commuting on her own since she was seven. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing this, I hope you liked it :) See you next chapter!
> 
> Adieu~


	4. Mr.VIP

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YO YO YO SUPRISE UPDATE! Summer break is gone now so I'm uploading one more chapter before I say goodbye to my free time. SO EXTRA CHAPTER FAREWELL SUMMER!

Despite the circumstances of the night before and the trouble they got into, they at least had somewhat of a restful night. Shinichi was grateful for the impromptu wrestling match that tired him out well enough to be able to sleep through the rest of the night without trouble. He had a dreamless sleep which by all means is fine, very much preferred actually. It just felt really nice to be able to close your eyes and sleep your troubles away without any unnecessary brain activity. Dreams can be nice, sure, but Shinichi would rather have every single part of him well rested for the next day, it wouldn’t be good if his mind was on eternal lag just so it could conjure up a nice dream.  
  
Still stuck in his sleep filled dreamless haze, Shinichi woke up most of his senses but didn’t bother to open his eyes just yet. His consciousness immediately noted that his ‘bed’ seemed to be moving, he frowned inwardly and looked back to when he went back to his futon, only to realize that he never really went back and was too tired to move so he just sort of collapsed on the nearest flat surface.  
  
Well, -ish, flat-ish surface, the events of last night were pretty clear at this point and he could say with certainty that his appointed bed was none other than a certain magic-otaku that just so happened to be his friend. He could smell Kaito’s flowery scent- probably from keeping flowers around his person all the time- and it only confirmed what he already knew. Though…wasn’t Kaito an early riser? He would be awake by then right? Shinichi then realized that Kaito breathed too deeply for a sleeping person, yup, definitely awake.  
  
He hesitantly opened his eyes a bit, rubbing at them as he did so. He blinked a few times and looked down to meet amused indigo orbs “Ohayo hime-sama. I would have moved down to act as your footstool but you were still sleeping, if you want to stay in today then I will take the role as your bed for as long as you like”  
  
Shinichi scoffed at this- pushing back his embarrassment for waking up half sprawled on top of Kaito- and reached over to grab a pillow and whack his friend over the head with it  
“Well I’m awake, footstool please”  
  
Kaito snorted and reached a hand behind him to push Shinichi off his back “Yeah yeah, get off me first” Shinichi did as he was told and Kaito sat up to stretch a bit, he put his arms behind his head and leaned backwards until he felt a satisfying pop. He groaned happily and turned to face his friend who was now sitting at the edge of the bed and yawning quietly “I have to say hime-sama, I think I’m a little too stiff to be your footstool right now”  
  
Shinichi blinked at him, rubbing his eyes of the tears that formed when he yawned “Hmm? Too bad, I’m firing you then” He hopped off the bed then turned around to say “Good morning to you too Kaito” Then quickly added “Dibs on the bathroom” Kaito shooed him off with his hand and flopped back down on his bed. He heard his bedroom door open and click close, indicating that Shinichi took his leave.  
  
The young magician looked up at his ceiling with a frown, their punishment was to take place today. That thought alone made any motivation to do anything immediately drop to any all time low, and Kaito felt his bones grow heavy in response, looks like he wasn’t moving out of bed any time soon.  
  
Kaito was still lying down and staring at his ceiling when he heard his door open with a creek. He craned his head to somewhat spot Shinichi shuffling over to his bag near the futon to get something “Did we run out of shampoo?” He coughed at the slight roughness of his voice but that’s to be expected, it’s early in the morning and he hadn’t spoken while Shinichi was gone. Judging from his friend’s less frazzled appearance, Shinichi had taken the time to wash his face and brush his teeth.  
  
His friend looked up at him when he heard his question, but he didn’t seem to understand that Kaito was only teasing because he shook his head and responded “Ah, no. I just came to get my clothes before I take a bath”  
  
“Hmm? Are you gonna change in the bathroom? Why? It might get wet”  
  
Shinichi bit his lower lip and looked to the side where his bag was “Cause….” He trailed off.  
  
Kaito saw him flicker his gaze back at him and he realized what his friend was trying to say, he snorted “Shinichi-dono, permission to tease you about being shy?”  
  
“Denied”  
  
“Sorry, I’m a rebel” He grinned at the ceiling before singing out “Shin-chan is shyyyy~!” Even though he wasn’t looking at his friend anymore- mostly due to his neck getting tired- he could practically _feel_ Shinichi blush at his accusation, he snickered when his friend began to defend himself.  
  
“I don’t want to change while you’re in the room! T-That’s-! I dunno! Not okay!!”  
  
Kaito pulled his blanket over his body and sat up once he was under it, he held his arms out to his side, not that Shinichi would know. All his friend would see is a lump on the bed “What if I just do this while you change? Promise I won’t peek”  
  
He said it loud enough so that even if it was muffled by the blanket, Shinichi would understand him just fine “You’re still in the room anyway! I’m not gonna change when I know you’re there” Shinichi really didn’t find any comfort in Kaito’s supposed solution. He only ever changed clothes with someone around when they were his parents, especially his mom who just couldn’t stop coddling him if she tried, sure he still found places to change in where they won’t see much but he just didn’t like the feeling of someone seeing him….well naked, there was a reason people had rights to privacy.  
  
Kaito poked his head out from underneath his blanket, his look was flat but amusement hid behind them “What’s the big deal Shin-chan? We’re both boys so you don’t have to be embarrassed about anything. Knowing us we’ll still probably be completely the same either way” It took a second for Shinichi to understand the implications of that sentence.  
  
With the realization came his horrified expression, he squawked and hid his completely red face in his hands, he could practically feel the steam coming off him in huge puffs “OH MY GOD! I can’t believe you just said that!! Kaito please never EVER say anything like that again while I’m in the same room!! Just-!” Shinichi held back the urge to shriek in embarrassment.  
  
While Shinichi was trying to melt into the floor, Kaito only blinked at him innocently. He really didn’t get what the fuss was about, heck he would’ve left the room for Shinichi to change in if he wanted, besides he still holds to his last statement: They’re both boys so it isn’t like they should be all that embarrassed. Unless…..  
  
Kaito jumped down from the bed and marched over to where Shinichi stood, still hiding his face in his hands. He took a hold of both of his friend’s wrists and pried his hands off his face, Shinichi looked up in surprise and leaned away when Kaito leaned in. The magician narrowed his eyes at him and looked him over. He had a scrutinizing look about him before his eyes stared straight into Shinichi’s own “Shin-chan….” He breathed out, looked at the floor to take a deep breath then looked back at his friend. Shinichi stood still, confused about what was happening “….you aren’t secretly a girl are you? I mean it’s okay if you are, I’m your friend so I don’t really care-“  
  
Shinichi’s blush jumped to another level. He shook off Kaito’s hands from his wrists “What?! Idiot! I’m NOT a girl!” He looked visibly offended at the notion. What kind of reasoning went through Kaito’s head to gain that conclusion? Shinichi glared at him and turned away, crossing his arms on his chest “I just don’t feel comfortable about changing when someone else can see me! It’s natural to feel like that!” He was quick to defend himself.  
  
Kaito waved off his defensiveness and leaned against his bed, looking for all the world as nonchalant as he could be “Then don’t”  
  
This caused Shinichi to pause and look at him in confusion “Don’t..?”  
  
Kaito stepped around him and to his bag to zip it up again, Shinichi was about to protest had he not interrupted “Don’t change clothes Shin-chan, we can spend the day in our pajamas instead. Simple as that”  
  
Shinichi made a face at him “You mean not take a bath and spend a whole day in our probably sweat soaked pajamas? That’s gross!”  
  
Kaito shrugged, he didn’t seem too bothered by it “I was planning to just wash my face and brush my teeth, you look like you already did that so it’s a little less gross”  
  
“Yeah but I don’t wanna run around in dirty clothes!”  
  
“It’s not like we’re going anywhere today anyway” Kaito reasoned and looked outside his window, it seemed to be the start of a beautiful day too, a mix of the right amount of sun and clouds and a gentle breeze flowing through the leaves of nearby trees. He sighed in disappointment. Kaito’s sad expression and the words he had just said reminded Shinichi of the crushing truth about their punishment, they can’t leave the house today, he matched Kaito’s sigh.  
  
Okay, so he was also a little disappointed about that, he even thought about teaching Kaito some basic soccer tricks while he was brushing his teeth, the idea excited him but now it just seemed a little disheartening “Oh yeah…” He mumbled in understanding and looked to his bag, he kicked it lightly. Shinichi glanced at Kaito and thought about his idea to just spend the day in their pajamas, the thought alone was enough to make his stomach curl inwards in disgust.  
  
Sure, he had his moments where dirt and grime wasn’t much of a problem but it wasn’t a normal habit when he was fully able to remove said muck from his person, he would let it pass during times when he would spend his day outside and come home too tired to care about his hygiene, his mother would always be the first to drag him to the bathroom to clean up anyway but situations like this? Nope, not something he’d allow.    
  
Although….at the mention of their punishment a large part of him just instantly decided that he didn’t care at all, they weren’t going anywhere, they were stuck in the house, what’s a little bit of dirt gonna do? He was stuck in a limbo of being too grossed out at himself for considering it and too aloof since he was basically grounded, it ended with the aloof side winning with the help of seeing Kaito look so down.  
  
Shinichi frowned at that when he remembered how his friend had blamed himself, he hoped Kaito didn’t think that way anymore, they were both at fault after all. With that in mind he decided that today will be a rare day where he rolled with Kaito’s punches, if only to see his friend cheer up a bit “…I guess there isn’t much point to taking a bath when we’re not going anywhere..” The second Kaito brightened up was the moment Shinichi took back his earlier statement and changed it to ‘roll with the punches but with moderation’.  
  
As agreed, the two boys had gone to the bathroom to wash their faces and brush their teeth. Despite having done it already Shinichi insisted that he repeat it and had taken longer that his friend, after watching Shinichi brush his teeth the third time Kaito decided that he’d be better off waiting outside. He was playing around with a flower when Shinichi finally decided to come out of the bathroom, Kaito grinned and walked in step with him as they made their way down the stairs “Did you manage to file your teeth down with your toothbrush?”  
  
Shinichi scoffed at this, reaching up to brush his hair back as neatly as he could “You’re asking me to run around in my used pajamas, I think I have the right to as many face washing and tooth brushing as I want!”  
  
When they reached the kitchen, Kaito was a bit surprised to find that his mother wasn’t around to greet them. A note stuck to the fridge revealed that she had gone out to accompany Toichi back to his hotel and will be back later. Kaito winced, right….his father had to cancel a show to stay over and lecture them, he probably has to make up for that today. He blinked in surprise when Shinichi reached over and tore down the note, he watched his friend pocket it “You and your stupid sad face…it’s weird”  
  
Shinichi turned and headed for the dining table, looking back once to jerk his head over to the table’s direction “Well? Your mom cooked us pancakes before she left, if you don’t want it to get too cold then you should hurry up and stop moping”  
  
Kaito smiled faintly and hurried over to walk next to Shinichi, he guessed it wouldn’t be so bad if his friend was around “Yeah yeah, whatever you wish hime-sama” Shinichi elbowed him for the nickname, Kaito laughed.  
  
He took his plate and used a fork to take a few pancakes from the plate Chikage used, when he was satisfied with the amount he hopped down- taking the bottle of syrup with him- and walked to where the living room should be. Shinichi frowned at this “Where are you going?”  
  
“Couch Shin-chan! You should come over too, breakfast tastes better on the couch”  
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes at him while he spread butter on his own pancakes “Don’t be dumb, it tastes the same…and come back here with the syrup!”  
  
Kaito hopped on to the couch and started slathering his pancakes with the sticky sweet substance, he placed the syrup on the coffee table in front of him with a loud enough plop so that Shinichi could hear from the dining table “You’re gonna have to come get it yourself! I’m too comfortable now”  
  
He snuggled back into some pillows to emphasize his point even if Shinichi couldn’t see. He was pleasantly surprised when he heard a chair scraping back then later his friend’s annoyed grumbling, he smiled wide when Shinichi came pattering in, a plate of buttered but dried pancakes in his hand and a clearly exasperated look on his face.  
  
Shinichi shoved him when he came up to the couch and dabbed just a little bit of syrup on his own breakfast before joining Kaito on the couch, Shinichi didn’t say much, he just stabbed his pancakes and ate them. Kaito chuckled and reached for the remote, he flipped the TV on and began to surf the channels, he came across a rather interesting cartoon about superheroes and decided that it was good enough to watch.  
   
Half-way through the show Kaito was barely paying attention to his food and staring open mouthed at the screen. 

_“YOU IDIOT! My nemesis lured us here!”_

_“Oh no captain! T-That’s-!”_

_“A BOMB!”_

_“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!”_

He swallowed the pancake in his mouth and vaguely noticed Shinichi sigh and shake his head beside him “I knew that from the start”  
  
Kaito rolled his eyes and set his fork down on his plate, Shinichi finished his own food not too long ago “If you just watched the show instead of being nit-picky it’ll be a whole lot more fun, promise”  
  
Shinichi leaned against the couch’s arm and stared flatly at the TV screen “That guy’s gonna trip and make the bomb speed up”  
  
Kaito snorted “What? No way-“

_“AUGH!”_

_“YOU FOOL! That wire made the bomb speed up!”_

Kaito blinked at the screen then turned his gaze back to a bored looking Shinichi, he huffed “Lucky guess”  
  
His friend shrugged “Or this show’s predictable, tell me what you think when the other guy remembers he wasn’t actually hit by the power drainer and saves them with his freeze powers”  
  
Shinichi hopped off the couch and began to walk away, Kaito frowned and stopped watching the show to look to where his friend was heading “Shinichi? Aren’t you gonna stay around?”  
  
Shinichi waved a hand “I’m bored Kaito” It was the only thing he said before he reached the stairs and went back up.  
  
Kaito tried to hide his disappointment as he leaned back into the couch, he wasn’t paying attention to the show as much anymore, he just let his eyes focus on something and that was that. He sighed, he really hoped that he’d be able to think of something for them to do today but yesterday’s mishaps just couldn’t leave him alone. Shinichi probably wouldn’t plan any future stay overs anymore, why did he have to go and get them in trouble? He looked down at his lap where his plate still was, he moved a piece of pancake around with his fork without really thinking of it.  
  
There was a slight rustling somewhere but he didn’t look up until a familiar mop of usually neat brown hair got caught in his peripheral vision, he was once again surprised to find Shinichi coming back with a thin blanket and what looks to be a book. His friend wordlessly got back to his earlier spot on the couch and wrapped himself up in his blanket, Shinichi glanced at him then opened up his book to a previous page he was on, settling back as comfortably as he could and began to read.  
  
Kaito smiled at this and went back to watching the show. If Shinichi noticed him leaning against him at some point, the other boy was probably too engrossed in his book to care, in fact he leaned right back.  
   
Shinichi was flipping another page in his book when he realized how far he had gotten in the story, he saw that there might only be a few short chapters left before he reached the end, he glanced at the clock and found it had been hours since he came back to the couch and started to read. Well at least it wasn’t as bad as last time when he missed a whole day to finish up a book but it did leave him regrettably hungry for missing breakfast and lunch.  
  
He shifted a bit and found that Kaito was still leaning against his side, albeit heavily now, the other boy wasn’t even watching the TV anymore- in fact he switched it off-, his eyes were focused on the ceiling in deep thought. Shinichi didn’t realize he was staring until Kaito’s eyes flickered over to his own, he blushed at getting caught but his friend didn’t seem to mind it “I wanna try something”  
  
Shinichi had placed his book down beside him to address his friend “So..? What do you wanna try?” He yelped when Kaito fell back into his lap to watch his face carefully, he felt a little uncomfortable under his friend’s watchful gaze.  
  
“It’s gonna be a little…new, and I wanna know if you can commit”  
  
Shinichi’s suspicions raised up at that sentence, what was Kaito planning? He gave his friend a suspicious look “That depends…..what are you planning?”  
  
“I wanna say sorry to mom and dad but in another way” Most of Shinichi’s hesitance to agree to whatever his friend had in mind melted away, if that was all his friend wanted….what harm could come of it right?  
  
“Then shoot, what do you need my help for?”  
  
At this Kaito beamed and nearly knocked heads with him had Shinichi not move away in time to let Kaito sit back up and jump off the couch “We’re gonna make them something!”  
  
Shinichi paled. Uh oh. What did he agree to? “Kaito….” He said in warning as Kaito grabbed his wrist and started dragging him to the kitchen, his friend let him go and the young magician took a stool and began to rummage through the high cabinets, but not before taking a book from another shelf and flipping through it.  
  
Kaito grinned when he apparently found what he was looking for and set the book in the cabinet where he could see it “Don’t worry Shin-chan! I saw mom do this once, I know what I’m doing!”  
  
Shinichi yelped when he spotted something begin to fall, he ran over to where Kaito was just in time to catch the spice that fell off the shelf “Watch it!” He hissed at his friend.  
  
Kaito looked down at him with a smile “Just stay right there Shin-chan! I’ll throw down everything we need!”  
  
Shinichi’s protests fell on deaf ears as his friend began to take ingredient after ingredient out to toss to him, one small bag of flour being something he disliked the most as it had hit him on the head and he was sure he now had some flour in his hair (His unwashed hair), it made him shiver in disgust “Heads up!” A salt shaker came down and Shinichi had to sprint to catch it from falling.  
  
He tightened his hold on the other ingredients in his arms and adjusted them so that they wouldn’t fall while he was moving “Are you done?!” He asked impatiently, his arms were starting to hurt. Kaito was frowning at the cabinet, he hummed to himself and closed it, taking the book as he went. Shinichi caught a glimpse of it and saw that it was some sort of cook book.  
  
Kaito stepped down from the stool “Uh…we might be missing a few things” He glanced at the fridge and moved the stool over to where it was, followed by a quietly complaining Shinichi. Kaito opened both the freezer and fridge door, he scanned the items in them both and handed Shinichi a few more ingredients, something his friend didn’t appreciate “We’ll have to improvise!” When Shinichi saw the tub of ice cream get taken out he immediately set everything else on a counter while Kaito dropped the tub where he was without even looking.  
  
Shinichi hissed at the cold and put it up the counter with the other ingredients as well “What are we trying to do here?”  
  
Whipped cream was apparently the last thing Kaito needed as he shut the freezer and fridge door. He moved his stool to the counter and handed Shinichi the once again opened cook book “Okay! All we need now are the cups, bowls and some spoons! Wait here, I’ll go get them”  
  
As Kaito went off to get the last things they need, Shinichi looked down at the cook book to find that the page it was opened to was a recipe for chocolate fudge cake. He felt himself pale at the prospect of attempting to make such a thing, the closest he’d ever been to cooking anything was when he was helping his mom make curry, and that had been in an insta pack!  
  
Rolling with the punches or no, Shinichi had to put his foot down somewhere, one look at the instructions and he already knew he didn’t know how to do most of what it was asking, moreover they didn’t have all of the ingredients needed. Who knows when Chikage would come home either! “Kaito are you sure we should be doing this??”  
  
His friend- who was coming back with an armful of bowls , cups and other utensils- caught his worried look, he climbed a stool with some help from Shinichi and spread out everything they had collected “Relax! I helped my mom make this kind of thing a lot of times! I already set the oven while you weren’t looking, don’t worry, mom asked me to do that a bunch of times so I’m sure that I didn’t make any mistakes” Kaito glanced at the oven behind them then murmured “Probably….”  
  
Shinichi heard it anyway “ _WHAT?!_ ”  
  
“Hey hey! You just have to trust me on this! Besides I told you that I wanted to do this to make up to my parents right? You’ll help me won’t you Shin-chan?” Kaito turned his puppy dog eyes towards Shinichi “You will right?”  
  
He was momentarily shocked when Shinichi mirrored his look “But what if we get in trouble?” He inwardly flinched when Shinichi seemed to get more doe-y eyed “I don’t wanna get in trouble again Kaito…”  
  
Kaito made his pleading look even more pleading, seeing this as some sort of weird challenge “But I really _really_ feel bad about yesterday!” He bit his lower lip and turned up the water works “I never meant to make mom and dad so upset….I never meant to get you in trouble either..” He made his most pouty face coupled with a bit of tears in his eyes “I just wanted to spend some fun times with you….in a way this cake is kinda for you too..”  
  
The moment he saw Shinichi’s doe eyed face twitch was the moment he knew that he won, he smirked triumphantly when Shinichi reluctantly hopped up his own stool. Shinichi gave him a sideways glare “I’m gonna say ‘I told you so’ when everything goes bad and you’ll be sorry”  
  
“We’ll just have to be careful!” That was how their little baking adventure began. According to the book they first had to sift the flour, salt and baking soda, neither of them really knew how to do that so they set it aside for now.  
  
The next instruction said that they had to beat butter and brown sugar in a bowl, it took a while for them to realize that beat meant something like mixing it together but Kaito had already punched the butter and claimed himself victor before they understood “Are you kidding me?!” Shinichi was wiping at the spot where Kaito threw the butter down in his victory lap around the kitchen “You didn’t have to _elbow drive_ it to the floor!”  
  
Kaito was mixing the sugar and slightly crushed butter in the bowl while his friend cleaned “I didn’t really get what it meant! _You_ didn’t either!! How was I supposed to know when I beat the butter?!” He sighed “Just come up here and help me add the eggs! Worry about the mess later”  
  
Shinichi managed to clear up the mess on the floor despite Kaito’s insistence to leave it alone for now, he resumed his position near his friend and began to crack the eggs into the bowl while he mixed “What if your mom came home? We’re already in trouble and I don’t want my parents to have to hear of me getting into so much trouble in just two days with you!”  
  
Kaito frowned at Shinichi’s tone “Why are you so mad? I said we’d be careful right?”  
  
“Yeah but then you _wrestled_ a _stick of butter_ into submission! That’s not being careful idiot!”  
  
“Hey! You don’t have to shout!”  
  
“I wouldn’t have to shout if you weren’t such a dummy!!”  
  
Kaito stopped mixing to cross his arms and glare at Shinichi “Now you’re just being mean! Why are you getting so mad?!”  
  
Shinichi mirrored his glare “I don’t want to get into any more trouble! If you haven’t noticed we’re _grounded_. If my parents find out I agreed to your stupid plans twice I don’t know what they’d say!”  
  
Kaito squashed down his hurt at Shinichi’s words and replaced them with bubbling anger, he didn’t like the tone Shinichi was using “ _YOU_ agreed to them! You coulda told me to stop but you didn’t! What does that say about you?!”  
  
Shinichi sputtered “SHUT UP! You just kept dragging me around! What was I supposed to do?!”  
  
Kaito scoffed and rolled his eyes “Oho? So that’s your argument? Looks like you aren’t as smart as you make yourself look Shi-ni-chi” Kaito couldn’t stop himself from saying those words or using such a mocking tone, before he knew it he was tackled to the floor and was fighting off an absolutely angered Shinichi.  
  
Neither of them had ever fought with someone else before so it was all random hits and kicks, Kaito kept going for Shinichi’s chest while Shinichi went for his stomach. At some point Kaito held both of Shinichi’s hands away so Shinichi stuck to kicking him as hard as he could while Kaito kept bashing his head against Shinichi’s chest. Both of them were panting and sore and tired but neither would let up, it was only when Shinichi had pinned Kaito to the floor still glaring did he suddenly shout: “I JUST DON’T WANT TO STOP SEEING YOU!”  
  
Kaito’s glare broke at the words as he stared up at his slightly bruised friend above him in surprise, Shinichi was looking to the side with his hands balled up to fists as he sat on his friend’s stomach “.....I got Ran in trouble with me once…..”  
  
Kaito watched quietly as Shinichi began to speak, he looked too withdrawn for Kaito’s tastes. The anger he felt at being assaulted slowly washed away, Shinichi looked just as tired as he was “I wanted to…I dunno, I can’t really remember, I think I was trying to find something missing. Ran was teasing me, telling me that I’m all talk and no walk, and that I’m just pretending to be like a detective. So I told her that I could find some missing thing or whatever and she wanted to see it with her own eyes so she followed me. We ended up near a really deep ditch and I wanted a closer look at something…Ran tried to pull me back but I dared her to go down with me, we ended up slipping and falling and Ran got hurt….”  
  
Shinichi had wrapped his arms around himself at this point, Kaito patted his arm and that edged him to continue his story “I couldn’t get us out without hurting her again, so I kept shouting for help. Some adults found us really late and her mom got really mad at the both of us, even her dad got mad, it got worse when they found out that Ran got hurt. Her mom argued with my mom for a really long time, I remember trying to block them out cause they started shouting and I….I couldn’t look at Ran….Then her mom didn’t let us see each other for _months,_ I only ever got to see Ran at school but even then she wasn’t allowed to talk to me. We only got to hang out again cause Ran was really upset and she asked her mom to let us”  
  
Shinichi sighed and looked down at his friend, Kaito had never seen him look so sad, he didn’t like that expression on his friend’s face “If we get in too much trouble….what if our parents do what Ran’s mom did?” Shinichi stood up and got off his friend, he turned around and looked to the ground while Kaito picked himself up “You’re a good friend Kaito and I know you mean well but….”  
  
A hand on his shoulder stopped him, he looked over and saw Kaito smiling solemnly “It’s not gonna come to that Shin-chan, I’ll make sure of it, you just hav’ta trust me on this one okay?”  
  
Shinichi let out a breath and nodded slowly “…Sorry for punching you in the guts”  
  
Kaito laughed- or tried to but he winced and Shinichi would have turned to start checking him but his friend held a hand up and used the other to hold his stomach “N-No, I’m good….I’m sorry for mocking you like that, it wasn’t nice”  
  
Shinichi huffed “None of what we did was nice” The both looked up at the messy counter that was jarred during their brawl.  
  
“What now?”  
  
Surprisingly it was Kaito that asked that question and Shinichi was the one to gently push him back into the direction of the counter “We’ll finish the cake dum-dum, that’s what we wanted to do in the first place right?” Kaito was all too happy to agree, they both smiled at each other and set to work.  
  
Luckily the bowl they were working on wasn’t toppled over and Kaito began to mix with more energy this time, they didn’t have vanilla extract so Shinichi- regretfully- had to add in the mostly melted vanilla ice cream guided by Kaito’s instructions. Despite Shinichi’s protests, Kaito put in the whole bar of chocolate in the mix ( _“It’ll be even more chocolate-y like that!” “We have instructions for a reason Kuroba!”_ ).  
  
They didn’t have sour cream either so then came in another substitute which was the whipped cream, again Kaito put in an ungodly amount that Shinichi berated him for, Shinichi ended up taking the whipped cream can and spraying Kaito with it while his friend laughingly retaliated by throwing a bit of the batter at him. The boys had an impromptu food fight until Shinichi realized that they still needed the batter for the cake, they had to redo most of it much to their chagrin.  
  
After everything was set they put the probably weird tasting batter into the pan and set it in the oven to bake “We made a mess…” Shinichi looked back to the kitchen behind them and winced at the sight, batter on the floor, walls and corners along with flour splatters everywhere- that was his fault, along with why Kaito looked like a partial ghost.  
  
“We’ll clean it up!” Kaito tossed him a wet rag and set off to one side of the kitchen to clean, Shinichi sighed and went to his own side, they’ll be here for a while.  
   
Half-way done with cleaning, Kaito uttered a sentence that made Shinichi freeze up “Do you smell something burning?” They whipped their heads over to the oven and shouted in horror when they spotted a small flame inside while smoke seeped through the cracks of the oven “AAA! SHIN-CHAN WHAT DO WE DO?!”  
  
Kaito scrambled all over the kitchen, flailing his hands in a panic. Shinichi stood gaping at the scene and only snapped back into action when Kaito came running back with a pail full of water “WAIT DON’T-!”  
Shinichi stepped in front of the oven in time just as Kaito threw the water, he got wet but at least it wasn’t the oven “DON’T DO THAT!” He chided and switched off the oven “THE FIRE’S STILL THERE!!” Kaito pointed frantically at the oven, Shinichi put his hands on his friend’s shoulders to calm him down “We have to wait for it to suffocate! I already turned the oven off so now we just have to wait for the oxygen to run out, stop panicking!”  
  
Kaito was breathing too fast. Shinichi darted to the place where he saw some paper bags and handed his friend one of them, Kaito was slowly regaining his usual pace of breath while Shinichi rubbed circles on his back “In…out….in….out….there you go, it’s okay”  
  
“Excuse me” Kaito stopped breathing and Shinichi froze up again. They slowly turned around to meet one Chikage Kuroba’s disappointed and accusatory glare, her hands on her hips and her mouth in a firm line “What do you think you two are doing?” Shinichi opened and closed his mouth but found that his voice was nowhere to be found. Memories of Ran’s mother cycled through his head, causing him to lock up even more.  
  
This was when Kaito stepped in front of him as if he was ready to take a blow in his place “Kaa-san don’t blame Shinichi for this! Shinichi was upstairs reading his book and he came down because I was shouting. I was about to throw water at the oven cause the cake I was making got burned and Shinichi stopped me. It’s my fault this time! Shinichi had nothing to do with it!”  
  
Shinichi clutched Kaito’s arm “Kaito-“ His friend shook his head at him firmly but Shinichi was sure Chikage could see through this.  
  
He wasn’t just wet, he was covered from head to toe with the ingredients they used in their food fight, his hands still had traces of flour which was obviously what was on Kaito’s face, they weren’t getting out of this one. Kaito on the other hand wanted to make this work, he saw how scared Shinichi was when he told him about what happened with Ran, he didn’t want that. He would defend his friend no matter what “Kaa-san seriously!” Kaito turned back to his still silent mother “I was trying to make a cake cause I wanted to show how sorry I am for making you and tou-san so upset! I just- it didn’t go well okay? Shinichi really had no-“  
  
“Chikage-obasan, this is my fault too”  
  
Kaito snapped his gaze at him “Shinichi!” He hissed.  
  
Shinichi frowned at him and turned back to Chikage “Like Kaito said, he wanted to make a sorry cake for you and Toichi-ojisan…I even tried to stop him but in the end I went with it anyway…” He fought his urge to look at the floor so that he could tell Chikage the whole truth “You shouldn’t punish Kaito so much, we stopped at one point but I told him we should continue anyway” He bowed his head in respect “I’m really _really_ sorry…”  
   
“Shinichi…..” Kaito muttered under his breath, watching his friend but refusing to move away from him when Chikage began to step into the kitchen silently. His mother crouched in front of them and gave them both a scrutinizing look “Kaa-san…I’m sorry, please don’t get mad at Shinichi” Chikage looked at her son, Kaito wasn’t pulling his usual ‘get out of trouble’ puppy dog look, instead he looked genuinely apologetic and somewhat pleading, she could see why by the way her little boy stepped closer to his friend.  
  
She sighed “Shinichi-kun…I’m gonna have to tell your parents about this, you know that right?” She watched the little boy stiffen then nod once, her own son reached behind him and clasped Shinichi’s right hand.  
  
“Kaa-san” It was almost whispered but it was pleading.  
  
Chikage frowned at her son “You know you’re both in trouble Kaito, I can’t just let this pass. What would have happened if neither of you knew what to do when the oven caught fire? You would’ve been badly hurt or worse!”  
  
“I know kaa-san, I’m sorry but please don’t tell Shinichi’s parents! You can ground me for life if you want! Just don’t tell them!!” Chikage sighed and looked to the ground.  
  
After a few minutes she looked back up to see the two boys eying her wearily “Kaito, Shinichi-kun….” She started then sighed again “This kind of thing….you shouldn’t have done this without an adult around to help you. I know you boys meant well and this cake would have been very special if it was done right but this is serious, you could have really been badly hurt and I don’t want that over my head, I can’t stand the idea of either of you getting hurt, do you understand?” They nodded.  
  
Chikage stood back up and surveyed the damage to her kitchen, it wasn’t so bad and Shinichi was right to let the flames die so a little bit of elbow grease will be enough to get this kitchen back on top “Shinichi-kun, I still need to tell your parents about this but I won’t mention anything about the fire since it didn’t spread thanks to your know how” Kaito looked happy and Shinichi was relieved. Chikage put a hand on both their heads, ignoring the sticky feeling “Next time don’t try to do this without an adult okay?”  
  
“Okay kaa-san”  
  
“Yes Chikage-obasan”  
  
She smiled at both of them “You’re both going to have to help me clean this up though” It wasn’t any trouble getting the boys to help her since they were already cleaning up before she got back home. Once the kitchen was cleaned Chikage sent them both back upstairs to wash up, she handled cleaning the oven on her own, she winced at the pan of bubbling chocolate mess and sighed when she realized it would be a pain to wash out the pan later.  
  
She set the failed cake out to soak while she cleaned the oven. When the boys came back down in fresh clean clothes, Chikage decided that this time she’ll keep a closer eye on them so that they won’t get into any more trouble, she just hoped they won’t get into as much mishap when they were older.  
  
“C’mon Shin-chan! Let’s do it!” She heard their conversation carefully waft into the kitchen and decided to listen in just in case.  
  
“Nooo! Kaito I don’t want to!” In the living room where the boys had decided to stay in for the rest of the day, Shinichi was shaking his head vigorously with his eyes closed while Kaito waved a CD case in front of his face, the very reason why Shinichi’s eyes were closed.  
  
“C’mon! Horror movies are less scary when it’s day! It’s science!!”  
  
Shinichi pushed the case away from his eyes to glare at his friend “No it’s not! A horror movie is a horror movie and it’ll be scary either way!” He paled when Kaito skipped away from him and popped the CD into the player “KAITO!” Shinichi shrieked and instantly dove for the couch and the blanket when the movie began to play on the TV screen.  
  
He flinched when Kaito flipped his blanket open to sit next to him and under the blanket as well “Don’t worry so much! It’s the day time and both of us are gonna watch this together, it’s not gonna be _that_ scary!” Shinichi almost believed Kaito, if only to assure himself. He was dead wrong.  
  
_“Oh my god…we’re going to die..” “Shh! We just have to wait until she’s gone” “ACK-!” “SHH!”_  An hour later, both boys were wide eyed and staring at the screen in fear. They were clutched in each other’s arms in a death grip under the blanket, they watched in the view of one of the characters as the ghost’s blood shot eyes peered into their hiding place. Shinichi edged closer to his friend and squeaked in fear when the ghost looked directly at the character, Kaito slapped a hand over his mouth but he could feel his friend shaking as well _“…is she gone?”  
  
_ Shinichi felt a hand grab his side and so did Kaito. Just as the people on screen screamed as the ghost tore apart their hiding place, they screamed and scrambled to get off the couch and landed into a graceless tangle of limbs on the floor. They snapped out of their panic filled haze when they noticed someone laughing, Kaito glared at his mother from the floor “KAA-SAN THAT WAS MEAN!!”  
  
Chikage was clutching her stomach and laughing her lungs out, she wiped tears from her eyes and looked down at them, only to burst out laughing once again “Chikage-obasan please don’t do that!!” Shinichi might have sounded a little whiny but he was just scared out of his mind by his own aunt, he didn’t care much about how he sounded.  
  
“I-I’m so sorry boys!” Chikage wheezed and moved around to help them up “You were just so concentrated on the movie! I couldn’t help myself!”  
  
Kaito huffed at her and Shinichi sighed “Kaa-san you’re a meanie. An adult woman scaring two kids….”  
  
Chikage giggled and kissed the side of her son’s head while she gave Shinichi a one armed hug “Consider that as payback for having me clean out the oven” With that she went back to the kitchen and chuckled at Kaito complaining that he didn’t want to live with a meanie like her while Shinichi kept telling him to be quiet so that they could go back to the movie.  
  
In the end, Shinichi was trying to hide behind Kaito and Kaito was trying to do the same with Shinichi, they both agreed to just cover each other’s eyes but would still flinch when the people in the movie screamed or if they thought Chikage was lurking around the corner. When Shinichi shared this fear of his mother, Kaito promised to keep him safe from the mean lady and pulled him close, looking over his friend’s head for any sign of his mother. Chikage found the scene adorable and snapped a picture.  
  
It was a little while after the movie ended and they already had lunch, Shinichi was huddled under the blanket and lying down on his stomach on the couch, while Kaito sat on the floor performing magic tricks to get their minds off the awful movie, as usual Shinichi kept pointing out Kaito’s holes and blunders in his performance while Kaito made mental notes of Shinichi’s observations “Hooo~? What’s this I see?” Kaito opened and closed his hand, making objects appear and disappear or get replaced by another object, he snickered at Shinichi’s expression “Are you getting slow tantei-kun? You can’t figure out my tricks??”  
  
He was surprised- and wasn’t Shinichi surprising him a lot today?- when Shinichi only smiled at him instead of retorting like he usually did “I guess it’s because you’re becoming a really good magician”  
  
Kaito startled and accidentally made his props fall to the ground, he blushed and glared at Shinichi who was snickering “Was that sarcasm?”  
  
Shinichi gave him an innocent look “Was it?”  
  
Kaito scoffed and threw a few flowers at him “Tease”  
  
Shinichi threw a flower back “I learned from the best” Kaito snorted and pounced for Shinichi, his friend yelled in surprise when he head locked him and began to mess up his hair. Shinichi half laughed half shrieked as he tried to get away, just as he was about to get out of the head lock, Kaito latched onto him and trapped him in a bear hug. Shinichi jokingly demanded to be let go and Kaito only tightened his hold in response.  
  
The children’s laughter was cut short when the doorbell resounded throughout the house, they watched Chikage straighten herself out before going over “Coming!” She called and opened the door.  
  
Yusaku stepped in with a smile “Hello Chikage-san, I’m here to come get Shinichi now. It seems Yukiko can’t be far apart from our son for so long”  
  
Chikage giggled at that “Oh? Did she pull you away from your work early to come get Shinichi-kun?”  
  
Yusaku sighed but there was a fond smile on his face “I’m afraid so, is Shinichi with you now?”  
  
Chikage nodded and turned to call for the boy in question “Shinichi-kun! Your father is here to pick you up now!” Back in the living room, Shinichi frowned when he felt Kaito’s hug tighten even more. His friend was looking fearfully at the direction of the door and Shinichi decided that he should remedy that expression. He flicked his wrist in front of Kaito’s face and produced a white flower, he was clumsy and not as quick as Kaito was with his hands but it looked decent enough from a distance.  
  
Kaito blinked at the white flower that was in front of him and sent Shinichi an incredulous look, Shinichi shrugged and smiled at him “What? You didn’t think I’d pick anything up from watching you all the time?” He chuckled “I learned from the best nee?”  
  
Kaito paused and grinned widely at that, he took the offered flower and instantly replaced it with a yellow rose “ _That’s_ how you do the flower trick” Shinichi shook his head in amusement and was surprised when Kaito let him go and ran up the stairs, leaving the yellow thorn less rose in his place.  
  
Shinichi poked at it curiously until Kaito came back down with all of his belongings, he gave his friend thanks which Kaito replied with a ‘no problem’ as his friend walked with him to the front door. Yusaku smiled happily at his son when he caught sight of his expression, looks like it was a good thing to let Shinichi stay over “You ready to come home son?”  
  
Shinichi took his offered hand with a nod “Yep” His son looked back to wave at Kaito.  
  
“Nee Shin-chan! Come visit again some time! Oh! Maybe I’ll come over-!”  
  
“You’re still grounded Kaito” Came Chikage’s stern tone.  
  
“Eeeeh? Aw…well when I’m not grounded then Shin-chan!”  
  
Shinichi chuckled “Bye Kaito”  
  
Kaito smiled at him and waved again “Till next time Shinichi!” Once he was in the car with his dad, he watched the Kuroba residence slowly disappear.  
  
Kaito was still waving at him even when they were far off already “You’re grounded too Shinichi” He startled at his father’s voice, Yusaku didn’t look at him “I heard from Chikage-san. Two weeks Shinichi” The boy deflated at this, oh yeah Chikage-obasan told his parents. With a sigh he slumped in his seat, looks like Kaito and he aren’t done sharing mutual punishments just yet.  
  
Yusaku on the other hand was surprised that Shinichi could get into so much trouble in such a short amount of time, he knew that his son would be brash at times but never in succession. He wondered if this had anything to do with Toichi’s boy only to frown at himself for thinking that, wasn’t he a hypocrite for even entertaining that idea? Yukiko could probably tell him that he wasn’t any better when Toichi was around. With that, he left it as some inevitable dance that any Kudo would experience when in contact with a Kuroba, it made more sense to think of it as such.

 

* * *

 

The two weeks of Shinichi’s punishment was as boring as he thought it would be, Ran was disappointed to hear that he got grounded since she was hoping to hang out with him again when he got back, he had thought of the same thing and was just as sad as she was but remembering all the fun with Kaito during his stay over was enough to lighten his spirits a bit.  
  
The result of it being that Ran and he spent as much time playing and hanging out together at school, Sonoko wasn’t too happy that her best friend was always around the mystery otaku or vice versa ( _“You’re_ my _best friend Ran! Why’d you have to be around that holmes geek all the time?” “Well, Shinichi’s my other best friend too!” “You can’t have two best friends!”_ ) Shinichi had to agree with Ran on this one, you can definitely have two best friends if you’d like.  
  
That thought alone made him pause, Ran is surely his best friend, he spends more time with her than anyone else to be honest but…wasn’t he spending a lot of time with Kaito too? Shinichi frowned, is Kaito his other best friend like he was to Ran when Sonoko wasn’t around? He let that thought slide away for another day, Kaito’s a good friend sure but best friend? Probably not...right?  
  
At home he couldn’t really do much but wander around aimlessly or take quick stops at the library to read the books he hasn’t gotten his hands on yet, some were still a little too advanced for him but he tried anyway, it’s never bad to want to learn right? Besides his parents were there to help him out if he got stuck in a book. Eventually he would stop reading, there are only so many books a six year old can handle before getting bored again, even if the books were usually interesting and in his favorite genre.  
  
The end of the days would usually find him sprawled on top of the couch and flicking over channels, he never really watched anything that was on, though he would occasionally give the TV some attention. The two weeks just wasn’t a happy time for the young Kudo, he wondered if Kaito was experiencing the same thing. He scoffed at that, Kaito didn’t like sitting still for long, if Shinichi was like this Kaito was probably worse off.  
  
Which was true, since the young Kuroba was just as immensely bored as his Kudo counterpart, even he wasn’t safe from the clutches of boredom. Kaito often wandered around his house the way Shinichi did, he would stare out the windows longingly especially when other kids would zip by excitedly claiming that they were off to some adventure or out to play a fun game.  
  
At school he had a bright idea to alleviate his boredom, he would constantly perform magic tricks for his classmates as he was always happy to see the amazement on their faces. This went on for many days much to their delight but at some point….Kaito became bored again. He was even starting to get disillusioned from hosting so many impromptu magic shows, plus he was starting to run out of acts and he wasn’t too keen on doing any reruns, that wouldn’t be any fun at all.  
  
He was starting to understand why his father didn’t have magic shows every day and instead had a schedule.  
  
It happened on accident actually, he was testing out some new props for his tricks during recess when his grip on the little plastic ball slipped and it bounced over to his classmates where it exploded and their shrieks were the only thing he could hear as the smoke flooded the classroom. He waved the smoke away frantically and ran over to apologize only to gape then burst out into laughter on the floor when the smoke lifted to reveal several of his classmates covered in glittery pink paint.  
  
Their expressions were absolutely _hilarious_ for the young magician even when they realized that it was his fault they were like that and began to berate him, he didn’t mind at all. In fact the whole class joined in his laughing and the group who got affected did as well when they saw how silly they all looked.  
  
A wicked new idea had formed in Kaito’s mind that day, he wasn’t just a magician anymore, oh no, he was going to be a trickster and all of his magic tricks were going to help him. It was an unfortunate week where everyone had learned not to connect the name Kuroba with just a magician anymore. He _did_ get in trouble with the teachers at some point but all of his tricks were harmless and easy to remedy so they didn’t think much of it much to his delight. If only they knew it was just the start of something that will reoccur for years to come.  
  


* * *

  
  
Shinichi hadn’t heard from Kaito until weeks later, nearing the end of the month actually. His mother had called him over to the phone and said that it was Kaito who was calling and was asking for him, Shinichi thanked her and immediately took the phone, never noticing the way Yukiko smiled knowingly as she walked away to give him his privacy “Hi Kaito, how are you?”  
   
“Hi Shin-chan! I’m doing great how about you?”  
  
Shinichi smiled at the signature happy tone of his friend “Fine, still a little bit bored from being grounded though”  
  
Kaito made a sympathetic sound over the phone “Yeah I hear you BUT I think you’ll be happy to hear that I found a way to not be bored AND find another use for all my magic tricks!”  
  
There was something about the way he said it that made Shinichi suspicious and not happy at all “Kaito what did you do?”  
  
There was laughter from the other side “Jeez Shin-chan, you think I killed a guy! No no, I just found that there’s a sort of ah…leverage to a type of joking method when I use my tricks”  
   
“Are….are you pranking people with your magic??” The boisterous laughter from his friend confirmed his hypothesis, Shinichi groaned “No…Kaito tell me you didn’t”  
   
“Okay, I didn’t!”  
  
He scoffed and rolled his eyes, forgetting that Kaito couldn’t see but he was sure the other would feel it “Am I gonna have to look out for you when you try out your magic around me?”  
  
There was contemplative humming “Maaaybe? But not so much since you’re one of my favorites~”  
   
“Huh? I’m not your only favorite?” He smirked and leaned against the wall as Kaito responded with a:  
  
“Pfft, don’t flatter yourself Shin-chan, I have parents too you know, family comes first and stuff” They both laughed and Kaito was the first to stop to continue talking “Other than that I have something else to tell you too! I met someone”  
  
Shinichi hummed “You met someone?” He echoed  
  
“Yeah, I was with my dad a few weeks ago and he was having a show somewhere so I stepped out for a bit. Then I met this…girl, near the clock tower” Shinichi held back a snicker when Kaito paused a bit before he said girl “She was waiting for someone and she looked kinda lonely so I-“  
  
“You did magic for her? Let me guess, the flower thing??” Silence.  
  
Then Kaito scoffed “Spoilers Shin-chan, you have no manners at all. Yeah you dummy, I did ‘the flower thing’ and let me tell ya! She was pretty much in awe” Shinichi was about to retort but Kaito’s next words made him stop “I guess I have you to thank for that, if you weren’t such a demanding critic I wouldn’t have been so good. Though I’m sure if I performed it for you you’d probably tell me you saw it come out of my sleeve or my pockets or my collar or something”  
  
Shinichi laughed at that especially when he could feel Kaito pouting on the other side of the phone “True but only because you aren’t up to my standards for a great magician yet”  
  
“Really? Then what’s your standards critic-san?”  
  
“Your dad” Kaito hissed and Shinichi laughed “Daaaang! That’s harsh! You want me to top my dad?! Kami-sama, I think my life just flashed before my eyes!” Kaito made dying sounds then resumed “I’m like six Shinichi, it’ll take a miracle for me to reach your standards so fast”  
  
“Then you better get to work magician-kun, chop chop!” They laughed together and took a while to lapse into silence again, Shinichi looked out the window then remembered something “Oh yeah, I have something to tell you too” At Kaito’s hum he continued “Ran’s been bugging me about meeting you, she says she wants to meet the person who actually succeeded in becoming my friend, her words not mine”  
   
“Hahaha! So does that mean you talk about me to other people?”  
  
Shinichi blushed when he heard the sly tone in Kaito’s voice, he coughed and ignored his question “So what do you think? Do you want to meet with her some time?”  
   
“Hmm….Yeah sure, it’ll be fun. I’ll drag Aoko along too”  
  
“Who’s Aoko?”  
  
“Ah, she’s the girl I told you about, the one I met? Apparently she just moved in, her house is right next to mine, she goes to my school now too!”  
  
Shinichi saw a chance “Heeee? Do I smell a budding romance?” And he took it.  
  
Kaito sputtered on the other side and Shinichi snickered at that “The heck Kudo?! I _just_ met her! You’re making up romance!” Then he just had to go and say “You and Ran-chan though….you’ve known each other forever no?”  
  
Shinichi had his turn to choke on air “ _Now_ look who’s making up romance! Ran’s a good friend! That’s all!!”  
  
Kaito’s laughter told him he didn’t believe him at all “Sure Shin-chan, ‘a good friend’”  
  
“About the thing with Ran” Shinichi interrupted before Kaito could continue teasing “How are we supposed to meet?”  
   
“Hmm…well it depends, I mean Aoko just moved in so I can’t exactly drag her around with me”  
  
“Yeah and I don’t know about Ran’s parents, I don’t think they’d let me just take her over to Ekoda” Shinichi huffed “Why’d you gotta live so far?”  
   
“It’s not _that_ far dummy but yeah, I guess it could be hard right now” Shinichi heard rustling and assumed that Kaito had shrugged “I guess we’ll have to give it time, there’s gotta be an opening for a meet up one day” Chikage’s voice wove into their conversation and Shinichi listened as Kaito shouted back a reply “Whoops! Mom’s calling me over to finish my homework, we’ll have to continue our plans some other time yeah?”  
   
“Yeah, go do your homework Kuroba. I’ll still be here”  
  
Kaito chuckled and blew a kiss into the phone “Chu~ Talk to you next time Shin-chan!”  
  
“Gross, and _who_ told me that girls were weird for giving away kisses? _Bye Kaito_ ” Laughter, then Kaito hung up. Shinichi smiled to himself and shook his head, putting the phone back into its place.  
  


* * *

  
  
At school Shinichi told Ran about his conversation with Kaito about her request. She had agreed that their circumstances aren’t as favorable; he even jokingly suggested that they just sneak out and Ran hit him on the shoulder for it. The conversation turned back to the young magician and Shinichi began to tell his best friend all about his new close friend (new best friend?), everything he does and everything he did do that made Shinichi want to pull his hair out along with stuff he liked and stuff he hated.  
  
Ran listened happily and interrupted his rant about the time Kaito spilled paint on both of them while they were crossing a street “It’s nice to see that you found someone you like and are actually still friends with” He blushed at that and she giggled at him “Well…yeah I guess I like Kaito, he’s fun to be around”  
   
“Which is why I really wanna meet him!” Ran smiled happily at him “Someone other than me got the stuffy Shinichi to actually like him, I think he deserves a personal congratulations from me”  
   
“Oi oi, why are you treating this like some sort of achievement?”  
  
Sonoko popped up from beside Ran, startling Shinichi when he almost forgot that she was with them “It’s cause you’re such a hermit you mystery-otaku. Anyone who can actually get past your loner wall is a champ, and that’s saying something cause only Ran and I have ever done that”  
   
“I wouldn’t say _you_ really did it…”  
  
“What did you say?!”  
   
In another school found a similar looking boy practicing magic tricks on his desk, although this particular trick was a lot more complicated than his usual ones. Kaito’s smile began to widen when he thought he was starting to get the hang of his new experiment only for it to backfire and explode in his face. It resulted in his entire face getting covered with a blue powder, Kaito’s classmates snickered thinking it was a prank gone wrong, happy to see that even the magician himself fell victim to his tricks.  
  
A huff beside him and a white handkerchief being rubbed on his face brought him back to the present and out of his shock “You should really be more careful Kaito-kun” Aoko Nakamori frowned at the state of her new friend, she managed to wipe away a lot of the blue powder but evidently some of them wouldn’t come off “You should be thankful that you didn’t get so seriously hurt but just in case…are you okay?”  
  
Kaito smirked at her and leaned against his chair “Hmm? Of course I’m fine but I didn’t think you cared so much Aoko-chan~”  
  
He snickered at her blush and he got a face full of white handkerchief for it, he plucked it off his face and watched Aoko turn around in a huff and place her hands on her hips “Just for that Aoko will no longer clean your dirty face! You can go clean yourself!” She puffed her cheeks out and looked to the floor with a bit of disappointment “Where’s the sweet boy I met weeks ago?” She turned to lightly glare at him “Apparently he’s been replaced by a jerk”  
  
Kaito grinned at her, he stood up and hugged her from behind, startling the other child but was silenced when he waved her handkerchief in front of her and turned it into the same blue flower he presented her with on the day they met “Aw don’t worry Aoko-chan, I can always be sweet to you if you wanted~”  
  
She scoffed and shook him off her “As if Aoko wants anything to do with idiots like you faking kindness!” Kaito gently tucked the blue flower behind her ear and she blushed again causing the young magician to laugh “Jerk! What are you laughing about?!” He swiftly dodged the slaps that were supposed to land on him, he spent most of his recess trying to dodge his new friend’s fury.  
   
Later during lunch this time, Kaito was once again trying to perfect his new trick, once he realized it would fail he would throw it out the window and the container would explode into a colorful powder, the others thought it was amazing but Kaito was beginning to worry that he wouldn’t pull it off “What exactly are you trying to do?” Aoko watched him with worry when his usual smile slipped at that moment.  
  
Kaito fixed his mistake and sent her a confident smile to respond with “I’m trying to perfect a new trick that’ll surely impress someone I know, he’s a bit of a critic and he’s usually never impressed with anything I do, but if I get this one right I might be able to wow him this time”  
  
Aoko frowned at this “Why do you have to do that? If this person is never impressed with what you do why are you trying so hard?”  
  
Kaito grinned and looked out the window and to the sky “I want to be the best magician in the whole world Aoko-chan, but if I can’t even amaze this one person- if I can’t amaze _him_ then I’ll never be the best magician this world will ever know”  
  
Aoko looked down shyly and almost quietly got the next words out “Aoko…Aoko already thinks you’re really good though….”  
  
Kaito blushed at this and looked to her in surprise, he nervously smiled and shifted his gaze to his lap “Thanks…” He muttered then quickly resumed his trick. Once again it was going to explode on his face so he automatically threw it to the open window….but someone closed it.  
  
The small ball came bouncing back and rolled underneath Aoko’s desk, Kaito yelled out a panicked “AOKO-!” Before the ball exploded. Once everything cleared a red faced Kaito stared wide eyed at a green powder covered Aoko “S-Strawberries….” The magician stammered out and got even redder. Aoko stared at him in confusion then went red in the face herself with the realization, she screamed in embarrassment and punched the magician in the face. Kaito fell and refused to get back up, trying to hide away underneath his desk and holding his face in his hands in embarrassment…..although, despite Aoko punching him in the face and him probably getting robbed of his innocence he still thought Aoko’s shrieking and running around in response to what happened was a little bit funny.  
   
The school day ended with Aoko chiding Kaito for doing something so mean to a cute girl like her, he responded with words that hinted he didn’t really care so much “I’ll let it pass because it’s by accident but don’t you think that Aoko will ever forgive you if this happens again!!”  
  
“Mhm, don’t worry yourself Aoko-chan” Aoko huffs beside him and Kaito’s thoughts wander back to his failed trick. He really will need more time to be able to amaze Shinichi with anything he did, now that he knew Shinichi’s standards were his own father. Kaito winced, he thought of his father as the best of the best, planning to surpass him one day will be quite the challenge, but when has he ever backed down from a challenge? Especially if it came from Shinichi.  
  
Until then though, he’ll practice as hard as he can, Shinichi will have to wait for him to create the greatest magic show the world has ever seen, a show that’ll top all of his father’s shows and maybe then….maybe he’ll see Shinichi’s face of amazement again, and this time it won’t be directed at his father but at him.  
  
Now that he’s set a goal, he found that he was even more determined to perfect what he was trying to do, Aoko who was walking beside him told him to stop grinning at nothing like an idiot. He laughed and slung his arm around her as they went home.

 

* * *

 

Shinichi was startled when his father suddenly entered his room and dropped an envelope in front of him, he frowned at it but couldn’t ask his father who it was from as the man simply patted his head and went out just as quickly as he went in. Shinichi turned his attention back to the envelope and turned it around in his hands, no return address, just his name.  
  
The little boy opened the envelope with suspicion and was surprised to find nothing else but a badly cut piece of paper, he pulled it out and saw that it seemed to be imitating a ticket of some kind, it had the word VIP almost covering the whole thing scrawled in blue crayon. Shinichi narrowed his eyes at the smaller text he found underneath it ‘You are invited to the best magic show in the world. This ticket is valid forever’ Having an idea on who sent this he turns the ‘ticket’ around and laughs when he spots Kaito’s ‘signature’ at the back and a small note underneath stating that he allows the use of this ticket in any of his shows.  
  
Shinichi placed the ticket back into the envelope, tucked it somewhere safe and resumed his homework with a faint smile on his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another reason why I decided to upload this is because this is technically part of the previous chapter so I don't see any point in postponing this little event in the chapter of Shinichi and Kaito's childhood. It'd be weird to wait a week for just the second part of a story arc. 
> 
> Adieu summer break, I will miss you immensely :')


	5. The (in)convenient party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LATE UPDATE WHOA.  
> Jeezums, looks like I got sidetracked today and couldn't update at my usual time, apologies :/

The month of October was practically the middle of the autumn season. Shinichi hadn’t noticed much change in his surroundings until this month had come along. The trees were starting to color themselves the signature warm and bright colors of reds, yellows and oranges, a huge contrast to the shift of the weather in preparation for a much colder time of the year.   
  
It was rather funny in his eyes when people began coming out in puffier clothing, adding layer after layer as time passed by, in a way the people were like the trees, changing appearances in preparation for the cold. Although he didn’t really appreciate the month’s changes much in fear of getting sick, in fact he was probably one of the people he found funny for becoming more and more like a stuffed marshmallow each day.   
  
Yet….he didn’t think he would mind getting just a little bit sick this time. The young Kudo sighed to himself and turned his attention away from the window to look up at the teacher in front of the class, what subject was this? Oh right, math. He felt a little guilty for not paying much attention but he just couldn’t help but think and dread of what was to come in this month of October, or more precise at the end of the month.   
  
His parents had dropped it like a bomb; it was out of nowhere, explosive and extremely inconveniencing….they had decided to throw a Halloween party. Now Shinichi had never even heard of this kind of celebration, well he had heard about it being mentioned in other places but the name of it was all he knew and he never bothered to look into it.   
  
When his parents had explained it was a day where people dressed up to scare away evil spirits he immediately turned the idea down, he wasn’t even swayed when they mentioned that children get mountains of treats during this day too, he just didn’t see much of a point in it. Of course they would fancy this kind of thing, apparently lots of adults liked to prance around in costume on Halloween, it became clear when his mother took him out to help her shop for decorations and he had seen at least two groups of people all rush in to a section of a store and come out with bags full of costumes.   
  
Shinichi began to wonder if you just got crazier and crazier when you get older, something that unconsciously became a personal fear of his and he hoped he wouldn’t go insane when he grew up.   
  
His parents started plotting for the party at the start of the month and had been cheerily busy with everything they had to set up in the Kudo mansion; apparently they were trying to emulate the western version of Halloween. Shinichi had almost tripped over one of his father’s surprise traps thrice, he was lucky he hadn’t because apparently a ghost was supposed to swing down if it was activated, and those near trips happened when he was alone in the house, he shivered at the thought of facing that while alone.   
  
So he had to spend a lot of his October creeping carefully around his own house in fear of traps, watch his parents come in and out with boxes upon boxes of decorations, slowly see the transformation of the mansion into some grotesque horror cliché version of it and avoid getting caught by his mother who wanted nothing more than to dress him up.   
  
If it wasn’t obvious now, Shinichi _dreaded_ the upcoming Halloween party, not only for most of the trouble he had to go through for its preparation but because he didn’t like the idea of complete strangers coming to his house in costume, he already felt so uncomfortable around people he didn’t know but people he didn’t know that were _in disguise_? He felt about ready to have a heart attack on the spot.   
  
He didn’t miss the piles of invitation letters his parents had accumulated over the month, it only spelled one thing for him: A crowd. Maybe he was a little bit claustrophobic but he didn’t like being trapped in a sea of bodies, the mere fact that these were people who had the power to do anything and trap him even more sent a chill down his spine.   
  
Trapped between objects? Sure okay they don’t move, their positions don’t change and he can think of one concrete plan to get out, trapped between people who constantly move, shift and change whatever they do in a snap? No, just…no. The only kind of relief he had was that his parents had at least invited people he knew, Ran’s family was one of those.   
  
He remembered the day he told her about the party after his parents had nagged him about giving the Mouris- or more specifically her- their invitation letter. She was thrilled no doubt and excitedly began to tell him that she couldn’t wait to pick a really good costume for it, he has yet to see the specified ‘really good costume’ but every time he asked her if she picked one out yet she would press a finger to her lips and tell him that it was a surprise and he was going to have to wait and see because she would only show him during the party. He chalked it up to some weird girl thing.   
  
Thinking of that, Shinichi’s eyes wandered from the teacher to his friend seated a few ways away from him, studiously taking down notes and paying attention to nothing else but the lesson. He wondered what she could possibly choose to wear and found that well….she’d look cute in a lot of costumes. Shinichi imagined her in things like princess clothes, complete with her bright smile and that skip in her step when she’s happy, he smiled at the image and blushed when he realized he was fantasizing.   
  
He looked away from her and at his lap but his mind couldn’t help but wander back to the images, after a little while though…something seemed off about the images, he frowned inwardly and thought back to the Ran he had come to know, slowly the images of her in princess outfits became a little amusing.   
  
Ran to him was a headstrong girl, stubborn and yes can be sweet and kind but she can be scary and demanding, like a wild fire instead of a dainty flower that girls are usually compared to. He shot her a look and snickered a little, Ran caught him staring and blinked in confusion, she frowned when he laughed under his hand and decided that she would confront him later. Shinichi’s just weird.  
  
“What was so funny Shinichi?” Ran walked up to her friend’s desk as soon as class ended and the bell signaled for the start of lunch break. Shinichi was startled when Ran made a beeline for his desk, he laughed nervously at her question, he didn’t realize she could have seen him staring and laughing during class.   
  
“Eh? Um….I was thinking about my parents’ party”   
  
Ran brightened at this “Oh! Well I’m really excited about that too! I’ve spent a lot of time looking for the perfect costume with my mom”   
  
She giggled excitedly and Shinichi leaned back on his chair with a frown “I’m still trying to guess what you’ll wear…” Then he scoffed “My first ideas are pretty dumb”   
  
“Oh? What were your guesses?” She leaned in curiously and Shinichi had to edge away a bit, her face was way too close to his own. Kaito’s comment on girls being weird by just giving away kisses made him blush, idiot magician and his idiot comments.   
  
Shinichi coughed and looked away from her “It’s kinda funny actually, I guessed princess costumes but there’s no way a girl like you would wear that kind of stuff!”  
  
He chuckled but Ran seemed to deflate at the words, she frowned and rocked back to her heels “What do you mean a ‘girl like me’ wouldn’t wear that? What would be wrong if I chose any of that?”   
  
Shinichi blinked at her “Hah? But….you’re not like a girl most of the time…..”   
  
Those might have been the wrong words to say- mostly because Ran’s hurt tone had confused and concerned him that he didn’t think straight- because Ran’s dejected look instantly melted into rising anger “What?!”   
  
Shinichi waved his hands as she glowered at him “Ah! Eh- Ah! No! T-That’s not what I meant! It’s just that you don’t act like a girl a lot and- you know? It’s impossible for you to choose those girly cutesy stuff because you’re not girly or cutesy- WAIT NO-!”   
  
The kick to his face he received was probably well earned. He yelped and rubbed his nose when he hit the ground, he scrambled to come back up just as Ran turned to angrily march away “You’re a jerk Shinichi!!” She called over her shoulder and Sonoko instantly came up to her to try and comfort her distraught friend.   
  
Sonoko shot Shinichi a heated glare which the boy shrunk away from “Way to go you insensitive mystery otaku” She sneered and followed Ran out of the classroom.   
  
Shinichi tried to call them back but hesitated when Ran rubbed at her eyes then hurriedly walked away. He sighed and slumped in his seat, he didn’t mean that to come out so wrong. He just didn’t know how to say that Ran wasn’t like any other girl he’d met, she was strong on her own and an amazingly kind person, she didn’t depend on others and made her own path. She was admirable.  
  
He hung his head and hoped that he’d get a chance to apologize and explain things to her better once she had calmed down and he had arranged his thoughts well.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
When the day ended, Shinichi had to go home alone, he saw Sonoko quickly drive Ran away from school before he even got out of the building. Evidently she was still mad at him and that only made him feel worse. He berated himself for being such a klutz with how he talked to people sometimes, he already drove many of his classmates away, he wouldn’t want that to happen with one of his only closest friends. He smiled slightly when he realized that Ran wasn’t his only close friend any more, Kaito was there too.   
  
The thought of the young magician and how he brightened up when he saw him was enough to lift his mood a little, Kaito was always genuine about wanting to spend time with him, it came as a shock at first since almost no one enjoyed his company, it was such a nice feeling to know that someone else would want to be with you and would miss you at some point as well.   
  
_“Duh Shin-chan” Kaito was lying down on his lap and raising a comic book up by his hands, Shinichi had to move his book away so that he wouldn’t disturb the magician and Kaito wouldn’t disturb him. He was a little annoyed when Kaito decided to use him as a pillow but no matter how many times he pushed him off, a head of messy brown hair would always find its way back to his lap. In the end he just quietly accepted that Kaito wasn’t going anywhere “Of course I’d miss you, I like you and you’re my friend” It was a response to his retort that if Kaito were to ever travel somewhere outside of Japan for his magic show when he was older, he’d be just fine on his own and wouldn’t even miss his company when he was so busy. Shinichi looked down in surprise at that, he never actually expected Kaito to respond, he didn’t know what to say to that. Kaito merely winked at him and went back to his comic book, Shinichi didn’t go back to his book though, he turned Kaito’s words in his head over and over again, as if he couldn’t believe it. No matter how many times he played it back, Kaito sounded honest about it. He didn’t even notice that he never left the chapter he was on._  
  
The memory sent a nice feeling through the young Kudo, unlike the beliefs of a lot of people he wasn’t made of ice. He appreciated his friends and wanted nothing more than genuine relationships with them, Kaito had just confirmed that, maybe he already did before he had confessed to ever missing Shinichi.  
   
He was happy to say that Kaito Kuroba really is one of his close friends, he even found it funny that they stayed friends even if they had technically gotten into a fist fight with each other. His house soon came into view and as always he had to hop to get the gate latch open, it took a few tries as usual but he got through in the end.   
  
As he was walking up to his front door it had suddenly slammed open, he jumped into a defensive stance but it quickly vanished once he caught sight of who was there at his door “Speak of the devil…” He mumbled with a smile and hurried his steps, the person at the door doing the same “Hey idiot magician”   
  
Kaito grinned at him and as always greeted him with a bear hug “Hi Shin-chan!!”   
  
The first few times Kaito had greeted him like this he was always trying to immediately detach himself from his clingy friend, but now he was used to it and returned most of the hugs “What are you doing here? The party isn’t until three days from now” They separated and walked up to the mansion together, Kaito was the first to reach the door’s entrance but he stepped aside and gestured for Shinichi to go first, Shinichi rolled his eyes at him and Kaito smirked before taking the door handle and closing it behind them.  
  
“Kaa-san wanted to help out with the last minute preparations” He swung his hands behind his head and shot Shinichi a cheeky grin “I just wanted to come by and see you~!”   
  
By now Shinichi was used to those kinds of comments, it didn’t mean he would just take it “You saw me, thanks for visiting” Kaito dug his shoulder for that and he laughed “Where’s your dad?” Shinichi was already setting his shoes aside and putting on some slippers but Kaito seemed to be struggling with something on his shoes, he sent him a look that asked if he needed any help but his friend merely waved him off and snapped his fingers.   
  
Shinichi blinked when he found Kaito’s shoes haphazardly sprawled beside him, when did he take them off?  Kaito huffed “I’m still gonna have to practice….” He mumbled “Ah, tou-san is busy with something” He fixed his shoes and ignored Shinichi’s calculating gaze, his friend was probably trying to work out how he got out of his shoes so fast, he smiled inwardly “I don’t really know what it is he’s busy with but it seemed really important, so he can’t come to the party. He told me to say sorry for him”  
   
“It can’t really be helped, if your dad is busy with something important then it’s okay” Shinichi was still shooting glances at his shoes behind him.   
  
Kaito snickered “My shoes aren’t going to run around Shin-chan, I think you can stop glaring at them now”   
  
Shinichi gave him a pointed stare “Now that you’ve found out you can prank people with magic, I’m not taking any chances”   
  
Kaito gave a mock gasp “How could you think that I would ever do that to my favorite tantei-kun? And in his own home??” He feigned offense, putting his hand to his chest and pointing his nose upwards “The _nerve_! There is no trust in this relationship!”   
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes “Not when I clearly spotted you trying to sneak something into my bag”   
  
Kaito paused and gave him an incredulous look “See that’s the kind of talk that breaks relationships”  
  
“Kaito I saw your hand dart to my bag while I was putting slippers on, next time don’t knock your hand around so the other person wouldn’t feel it” He shrugged his bag off his back and held it in his hands, he directed the entrance at his friend who yelped when he opened it and something exploded. Shinichi gave the now confetti and streamer covered magician a deadpanned look “Magic~!” He made jazz hands at his friend.   
  
Kaito scoffed and brushed himself off “I guess I can’t get much past you Shin-chan”  
   
“You darn right you can’t idiot magician” Shinichi frowned when he quickly remembered what day it was today “Don’t you have school?”  
  
“Nah, someone came to school really sick, the teachers said it was conta…contained?...contige?? Uh…They said it was spreading and it got really bad, there were whole grade levels that didn’t come cause everybody got sick. They’re closing the school for a bit to get the germs out”   
  
Shinichi made a face at that and sent Kaito a suspicious look “…you didn’t get the germs on you right?”  
  
Kaito paused and gave his friend a predatory look, Shinichi subconsciously took a step back “I dunno…I might have ‘em” He wiggled his fingers at his friend.   
  
Shinichi took more steps back “Kaito no, that’s not funny”  
  
“Oooh~! Shin-chan I think I did get them!” Kaito coughed into his sleeve and Shinichi flinched “Shinichi look germ hands!”   
  
Shinichi jumped away when Kaito tried to nab him “Kaitoooo!” He whined.  
  
Kaito made a sort of choking sound “Ugh, I think I’m _reaaaally_ sick now..” He waved his hands at his friend like a zombie “Shiiin-chan, Imma get’chaaaa~! Geeeerm haaands!”   
  
Shinichi shrieked when Kaito made a run for him, he dodged under the magician’s side and hurriedly ran as fast as he could away from his friend “Noooo! KAITO DON’T TOUCH ME!” He threw his bag at his friend in hopes of slowing him down, he blanched in horror when Kaito simply caught it and announced that his bag was full of germs now.   
  
He whimpered, he really liked that bag and now he was probably never gonna be able to use it again thanks to Kaito’s germs. Mourning his loss but not intending to get sick, Shinichi ran to another direction quickly followed by a manically cackling Kaito. They ran around the mansion for quite a while, Shinichi was starting to get creative with his evasive maneuvers, he once ran around a table with Kaito and was able to out run the magician by just a hair’s breadth by jumping over the table and the magician himself.  
  
Kaito had almost cornered him a couple of times but he proved to be really quick on his feet and agile enough to jump away just as the dreaded germ hands could catch him. Part of Shinichi’s mind was absolutely embarrassed that he couldn’t see the logic of what was happening and that he probably wouldn’t get sick just from Kaito touching him- in fact Kaito probably wasn’t sick at all!- but the majority of his six year old mind screamed _do not let the germs get you_.   
  
Needless to say that part of his head won out, which is why he’s still running away in terror from his germ handed friend. Shinichi was sure that he was going to run out of breath soon but he really didn’t want to get tapped on with germs “AHA!” Kaito yelled from a distance and Shinichi let out a startled yell, and so resumed their chase with Shinichi loudly screaming that Kaito should leave him alone and stop trying to drag him down with him.   
  
“KEEP YOUR GERMS TO YOURSELF IDIOT MAGICIAN!”  
   
“Hey Shin-chan! I never told you but these are magic germs too! Magicians get ‘em a lot!” Shinichi paled at the leer that was sent his way “Magic germs can fly if I want them to”  
   
“YOU WOULDN’T!” Shinichi kept shooting wide eyed glances over his shoulder.   
  
Kaito cackled “I’ll give you ten seconds Shin-chan!” He didn’t need to be told twice, Shinichi sprinted _the heck outta there.  
 _  
He inwardly rejoiced when he turned a corner and spotted his mother carrying a box of decorations, he made a beeline towards her and practically collided with her legs. Yukiko gasped and steadied herself, looking down in surprise at her son “KAA-SAN HELP ME!”   
  
She blinked at him “Wha-?”   
  
Shinichi yelped when Kaito came barreling in, he hid behind his mom and Kaito chuckled darkly as he prowled forward “I’m still gonna get ‘cha Shin-chan~” His singsong voice merrily rang out.   
  
“Kaa-san! Kaito wants to give me germs!”   
  
Shinichi whimpered and pulled his mother back when Kaito faked jumping towards him, Yukiko momentarily lost balance and half laughed when her son began to whine “I’m gonna get sick and die and it’s gonna be your fault!”   
  
“I’m sick already and I’m gonna die anyway! You’re gonna be buried with me so I won’t be lonely” She outright laughed when Shinichi shrieked as Kaito jumped closer, Yukiko never thought she would see the day that this would unfold. Still, it happily reminded her that her little baby was still so young and she didn’t have to worry about him leaving her any time soon. She cooed at Shinichi and crouched down to hug him, setting the box she carried to the side for now.   
  
She ran her hand up and down her son’s back and squished his cheek against her own “Aaw don’t worry my little Shin-chan~ You know I would never put you in harm’s way. If Kaito-kun really was sick I wouldn’t have invited him in right?” She giggled when she spotted Kaito pout and cross his arms, unhappy that his fun was cut short.   
  
Shinichi visibly relaxed but there was still a sort of tenseness about him, Yukiko knew that the gears in her son’s head were turning her reasoning around and was slowly accepting it as the truth but of course by the way he kept glancing at Kaito wearily he wasn’t quite there yet “…I guess.....” Shinichi mumbled but kept to staying in his mother’s arms.   
  
Yukiko chuckled and kissed the side of her son’s hair, letting him go “There you go, now why don’t you and Kaito-kun play somewhere else, mommy is a little bit busy right now” Shinichi let himself be pushed toward his friend but he still inched his head away from Kaito.   
  
The other boy simply smirked and tapped his shoulder “Germs” He stuck his tongue out and ran away, leaving a gaping Shinichi in his wake.  
  
“HEY! No fair!!” The young Kudo immediately gave chase, determined to pass off the germs before they could fully infect him.   
  
Yukiko sighed at the sight and stood up again with the box of decorations in her arms. She walked away from the noise of the children to enter the library where her husband and her dear friend Chikage were busy trying to put up streamers on the multiple higher shelves, Yusaku was standing on his tip toes at the top most step of the ladder they were using while Chikage was trying to keep it as steady as possible, Yukiko silently wondered why they didn’t use a taller ladder.   
  
“Yusaku do you really think we need that streamer way up there?” Chikage watched with worry as Yusaku had to stretch up again to put up an orange streamer, the novelist plucked a piece of tape from his arm and winced slightly when it pulled at his skin.   
  
“Oh but Chikage, it would look so bare! What would the guests think? We have all of these decorations but up here it’s like we gave up trying!”  
  
Chikage let out a startled cut off scream when Yusaku seemed to wobble, the man yelped and clung on to the nearest shelf to steady himself, his actions had caused some books to topple over and Chikage flinched out of the way before they could hit her “For goodness sake Yusaku! Be careful!”  
   
“If you think that stubborn ox will start listening to you don’t bother, I’ve tried for years” Yukiko chimed in, daintily walking across the room to deposit the box of decorations on a flat surface.  
  
Yusaku faked a smile as he peered down at his wife who put the new box of decorations near the feet of the ladder “How endearing darling” He drawled.   
  
Yukiko blew him a kiss “I love you too!”   
  
Chikage chuckled at the both of them and looked out a nearby window “It’s a shame my Toichi won’t be able to join in”   
  
She stepped to the side when Yusaku climbed down and was close enough to slide past the rest of the steps. He scooped up a handful of streamers from Yukiko’s box while his wife reached over to the tape dispenser and stuck more pieces of tape on any available surface on her husband’s body that he could reach later “There are always other occasions Chikage, and I will personally make sure that Toichi won’t get out of it next time”   
  
Chikage giggled “Oh you don’t know how busy Toichi can get, how will you be sure that you’ll be able to drag him off for festivities?”   
  
Yusaku hid his knowing smirk as he climbed up the ladder again “I have my ways” He said mysteriously.  
  
Yukiko rolled her eyes “Always one for the dramatics” She sighed and rummaged through the box of decorations for something she can put up near the ground “As long as it doesn’t involve kidnapping Toichi-sensei”   
  
“What do you take me for? A criminal?” Yusaku scoffed above them, waving a purple streamer “I am so much more sophisticated than that” Technically he’s not going to kidnap Toichi, maybe just corner him long enough to convince him to whatever plan they have in store, and you know, not let him go until he agrees.   
  
Though, Yusaku wasn’t about to say that out loud, cornering Toichi will take a lot of effort in many ways and many situations outside of their…daily lives. He shook his head “In the mean time, why don’t you set up the lanterns? Chikage’s looking out for me, I don’t need the both of you holding the ladder”  
  
Yukiko scoffed and set up a pumpkin lantern on the desk in the library “Yes but you need the both of us to stretch out a tarp when you fall” Yukiko paused when she heard Kaito yell in surprise accompanied by her son’s triumphant laughter, she heard bounding footsteps from somewhere in the mansion and remembered that the children were apparently transmitting germs. She giggled “Chikage-san”   
  
Her friend turned her gaze from Yusaku to Yukiko questioningly “Yes?” Yukiko’s tone was suspicious so she narrowed her eyes at her.   
  
“Shinichi came to crying to me earlier, he said something about Kaito having germs…you don’t look too good yourself, would you like to lie down?”   
  
She smirked mischievously when Chikage fully turned to face her, hands on her hips “Are you…are you trying to imply that I look haggard?”   
  
“That’s a good thing right? You _are_ going to dress up as a witch” She laughed when a paper mache skull came flying her way courtesy of her friend.   
  
“Alright now you’re going to get it”   
  
Yukiko caught the pumpkin that came not long after the skull and set it on the desk she was decorating “Is that your best throw old lady?” Decorations after decorations came flying towards the ex-actress as a response, Yukiko caught each one and twirled around the desk with them.   
  
Yusaku yelped when Chikage hit the ladder causing it to wobble, he shouted at the both of them to stop horsing around but was dutifully ignored so he had to cling onto a shelf to steady himself again. When nothing else came, Yukiko was left standing in front of a fully decorated desk with a triumphant look, Chikage gaped “You used me!”   
  
Yukiko sighed and fixed her hair “Oh my, I wouldn’t say ‘used’, I think it was more of subtly nudging you to help the both of us at the same time. Look!” She gestured at the now decorated desk “Simply stunning thanks to your help!”   
  
Yusaku slid down the ladder once Chikage stepped far away enough for him to do so “Haha” He deadpanned and dusted himself off “You’re lucky none of the decorations got damaged. Next time, ask nicely like a normal person darling”   
  
Yukiko huffed “Where’s the fun in that?” She gracefully snatched up a streamer and twirled it around her husband, Yusaku didn’t seem to mind and ended up wearing the purple streamer as he set off to decorate other places.   
  
The adults’ conversation inevitably turned to the party that was to take place three days from now, Chikage had complained that she should have been warned about Yusaku’s traps before she got to the mansion, stating that her favorite pair of shoes would probably make her into a suspect for murder.  
  
Yusaku apologized for it and promised to get the fake blood of her shoes once they were done decorating the library, Yukiko on the other hand protested to it and suggested that Chikage should wear it with her witch costume and get the fake blood off after the party, it seemed like a good idea and Chikage agreed to it “How many people did you invite to this exactly?”   
  
Yusaku hummed from behind a spider web he was setting up “Ah you know, some friends we both have, I don’t know about Yukiko but I invited some people from the force. Well…I don’t know if Megure will actually show up but hey, the more the merrier!”   
  
Yukiko tsked behind him “Yusaku you know that we need more guests than that, lucky for you I have connections, this is supposed to be a social event after all” She sighed “Especially since it’s a chance for me to get Shin-chan to make more friends, hopefully he’ll meet someone new”  
   
“Oh…I don’t know about that” Yusaku bit his lower lip, the decoration he was setting up hanging from his hands as he looked to the direction where the sounds of Shinichi and Kaito playing were coming from “You know how Shinichi can get with crowds, if you ask me there’s a less likely chance for him to make friends if there’s too many people. After all, both Ran-kun and Kaito-kun were introduced to him alone”  
  
Yukiko gave her husband a sad smile as she shrugged “We have to try Yusaku” Both of the older Kudo’s grew quiet at the thought of their son. They both loved Shinichi very much, the thought of their son being alone when he was older didn’t sit well with either of them, they just hoped that this wouldn’t be the case.   
  
Chikage frowned at the atmosphere, she didn’t expect for her question to lead to _this_ , she sighed and shook her head at them “What’s with you two getting so solemn? This is supposed to be preparations for a party! If the hosts aren’t excited about it what’s to say about the guests?” She clapped her hands together and gave them both stern looks “So why don’t the two of you cheer up? All you’re thinking of are the negatives, who’s to say that the party won’t go swimmingly?”   
  
She turned her smile towards Yukiko “If you want to get your mind off something, why don’t you come over here and discuss what kind of dishes we should bring out for the party? And Yusaku, you can be our taste tester if you want”   
  
The Kudo parents smiled faintly at their friend “Well, I was wondering if we can make-“   
  
Yukiko was immediately cut off when two very excitable children suddenly came running in, hollering their lungs out at each other as they ran around the adults “You’ll never catch me Shin-chan! I’ve been training myself to run faster than you!!” Shinichi growled in response and used his father’s legs to push himself off towards the magician.   
  
“H-Hey!!” Yusaku sputtered as he stumbled.   
  
“Is this cause of that weird tag game?! Are you still mad that I beat you?” Shinichi huffed.  
  
Kaito stuck his tongue out at him and jumped up a chair, easily jumping over his friend with the height “You didn’t beat me! You cheated!!” He zigzagged across the room, running circles around Shinichi until the other boy had to shake his head to make the world stop spinning “Face it Shin-chan!” Kaito skidded to a stop a few ways away from Shinichi, grinning triumphantly in his victory pose of his hands on his hips and his chest outwards “You’re never gonna catch me and now you’ll have germs forever!” He laughed. Shinichi panted, supporting himself with his hands on his knees, he glared at his friend then stood straight again when an idea formed in his head. He let a sly smirk worm its way to his face, causing Kaito to pause and look at him funny “What?”   
  
Shinichi hummed a random tune, hands behind his back and seemingly walking to no particular place “Oh well, you got the germs first right? You? A _Kuroba_?”   
  
Kaito furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion, the magician to be tilted his head to the side “Yeah? So?” Shinichi stopped walking and rocked back and forth on his heels, still smiling innocently at his friend and humming that random tune.   
  
Kaito frowned at him then looked to where he stopped at, he paled “Wait..no!” Shinichi lifted up a finger menacingly, he wagged it at Kaito then slowly reached to his side “SHINICHI NOOOO!” That germ infested finger seemed to move in slow motion in Kaito’s eyes, the young Kuroba could only watch in horror as it landed and spread it’s dastardly disease to none other than…his poor innocent mother.  
  
“Boop” Was the only thing Shinichi said when is finger made contact with Chikage’s leg, bouncing off innocently and left as quickly as it came, although to Kaito who now sunk to his knees on the ground, it looked like a bomb just hit his mother.  
  
“YOU MONSTER!” He pointed accusingly at Shinichi who was only snickering at him “SHE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS!”  
  
 He fell to the ground in a dramatic heap, pounding his fists to the floor “IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME!” He cried “IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MEEEE!!”   
  
Chikage giggled and walked up to her son, Kaito blinked in surprise when she crouched in front of him and poked his nose “Now it _is_ you” The young magician stood still for a moment, unsure of what just happened.   
  
He gasped as if scandalized and jumped back up and away from his mother “Betrayal…” He whispered under his breath, Chikage laughed at the expression on her son’s face. Kaito then ran up to the other woman in the room in response, he patted her leg “There! If you’re gonna turn my mom into your partner then _your_ mom is _my_ partner now!”   
  
Yukiko giggled at this and patted Kaito on the head “Oh my, it seems we’ve found ourselves in the middle of a war Chikage”   
  
Her friend smiled at that and walked over to where Shinichi was standing, mouth agape and staring at his mom who had betrayed him and joined Kaito’s side “Chikage-obasan! Kaito stole my mom!”   
  
Chikage chuckled and petted Shinichi’s hair the same way Yukiko did to her son “There’s nothing we can do now Shinichi-kun, your mother has been turned”   
  
Shinichi sent his mom a longing look then nodded seriously at Chikage’s statement “Then that’s not my mama anymore! We will avenge her!!” He raised his hands up above his head in fists.   
  
Chikage did the same “Yes we will Shinichi-kun!”   
  
Yukiko scoffed “Turning my own baby against me, how cruel of you Chikage” The ex-actress then turned to her newfound partner, Kaito grinned up at her “Are you prepared to eliminate the enemy Kaito-kun? Even when one of them is your own mother?”  
   
“Traitors aren’t family!” He said loud enough for his mom to hear, Chikage shrugged in response “Get ready you two!!” Kaito pointed at both Shinichi and Chikage “We’re gonna give you ALL the germs and you’re gonna get REALLY sick!!”   
  
Yukiko grinned and matched Kaito’s stance “You hear that? We’re gonna get you!!”   
  
Chikage laughed and began to lead Shinichi away from the library “You’ll have to catch us first!”  
  
Shinichi stuck his tongue out just before Chikage held his hand and ran out the library with him “AFTER THEM!!” Kaito bellowed and took Yukiko’s hand, running off with her just as Chikage had done with Shinichi. The adult women both laughed in amusement, deciding that now was a good time for a break and what better way to spend it than with the two boys they both loved.  
   
The only person left standing in the library was a clearly confused Yusaku, he could barely understand what just happened, it all went by too fast. He was quick to realize that they weren’t even done with decorating the library and that the two women left him all alone to do everything by himself, he sighed and shook his head “Am I the only sane one?” He muttered to himself. Toichi came into mind but he quickly shook that off, Toichi was just as insane as the two women who left him. Yep, he was the only sane one. With that in mind, Yusaku begrudgingly went back to work.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Yusaku was mostly done with the decorations in the library an hour later, he found it quite difficult to have to steady himself on the ladder but he managed, everything else was close to the floor so it wasn’t as hard to finish up once the shelves were all decorated. He felt slightly sore and was about ready to take a break somewhere had the very groups who left him all alone didn’t suddenly barge into the library, he jumped in shock and turned his head to look at them.   
  
Team Kaito and team Shinichi stared each other down, they all looked out of breath and slightly frazzled, which is to be expected as Yusaku heard more than one thing hit the floor while they were playing, although now it looked more like they entered a warzone and he was starting to get concerned “Is- is that lipstick on your face Yukiko??”   
  
His wife smirked at him, two red streaks on both her cheeks “It’s war paint Yuu-chan”   
  
Her predatory look didn’t help at all and Yusaku had a sinking feeling that something bad was about to happen…to _him_ “Uh- I…what’s this about? Are all of you done playing??” He paled when Chikage chuckled darkly at him, he stepped back when he noticed the two groups starting a slow advance towards him.   
  
“We seem to have reached a stalemate Yusaku” Chikage explained.   
  
“Yeah tou-san! No one is winning at all and it’s no fun” Shinichi seemed to be holding a piece of rope for Chikage and Yusaku had to wonder where he found that but he didn’t like the way it was opened up in his direction.   
  
“You see dear,” Yukiko started, a predatory glint in her eyes “we realized that the only way to settle this is if there was an imbalance to the power so-“  
  
“So we’re gonna get ‘cha Yusaku-ojisan!!” Kaito happily finished, spinning what looked to be colorful handkerchiefs tied together like a lasso.   
  
Yusaku blanched, uh oh “Don’t I get a say in any of this?!” His back hit the bookshelf and he froze.   
  
“NO!” The two teams immediately dove for him. Yusaku had never been more terrified in his life.   
  
There was a scuffle in which the two teams couldn’t get a proper hold on the novelist for long, Yusaku had done his best to emulate a skittering cockroach, even going as far as diving under a desk at some point and clinging onto high selves to avoid capture. In the end his efforts were in vain as he was being pulled like taffy between the two teams “He’s _my_ husband so that means he should be on our team!!” Yukiko pulled on his shirt sleeve.   
  
Yusaku yelped “WATCH THE NAILS-!”  
  
“But he’s _my_ dad! And dads are supposed to be there for their kids all the time!!” Shinichi was pulling at his other sleeve with the help of Chikage.   
  
Yusaku heard a tearing noise “H-HEY! Be careful Shinichi!!” All his protests fell on deaf ears as the two teams were busy using him as a human tug rope, Yusaku was starting to fear that he might get something pulled and never be able to write again as a result.   
  
As he was formulating how to get out of the situation he heard Kaito suddenly say “HEY WAIT! Who has the germs again??” The pressure on his arms slackened but both teams didn’t let go just yet.  
  
“Um…wasn’t it you Kaito??” Shinichi questioned, looking around Yusaku to peer at his friend.   
  
“Nu-uh! I thought mama had it” Kaito frowned at him.   
  
Yukiko and Chikage mirrored the boys’ looks when they met eyes. It was quiet between all of them as they all gave each other suspicious looks, Yusaku was about to shake them off when Yukiko suddenly exclaimed “YUSAKU HAS THEM NOW!” That was what caused both teams to let go of his arms, Yusaku flailed and landed on his butt as a result of having his support balance taken away.   
  
He landed with an ‘oof!’ rubbing at his sore behind “Augh! What was that for?!” He startled when the two teams flinched away and eyed him wearily, taking small steps back at all of his movements, he groaned “No! No, I am not going to go with your silly games!” He stood back up, they stepped back “Seriously all of you! First you leave me to do all the work and now you expect me to just up and play when I’m so tired?! No!”   
  
“HE’S GOT MAGIC GERMS!” Kaito shouted and hid behind Yukiko “They fly when he talks!!” Shinichi also ran behind Chikage, sending Kaito panicked looks, his friend doing the same “Hold your breath and close your eyes! Magic germs can’t get in like that!!” The two teams did so.   
  
Yusaku sighed loudly “Stooop! I just want to sit down! I am NOT playing! End of story!!”   
  
When they still held their breath with their eyes closed, Yusaku shook his head and took steps towards them “Stop doing that, you’ll hurt yourselves-“  
  
“RUN!!” Yukiko pushed Chikage out the door once she peeked and saw her husband moving towards them, Kaito and Shinichi shrieked and held each other’s hand as they both bolted out of the room to follow their mothers.   
  
Yusaku groaned once again and let his head fall into his hands “I’M NOT DOING IT!” He called out only to sigh when he heard someone yell ‘Run faster!!’ He paced around the room, weighing down the pros and cons of his decisions. He decided that no work would be done if no one is around to help him “I can’t believe I’m actually…” He muttered just as he ran out the room and after the very people who put him into this predicament.  
  
  


* * *

 

Several hours later, the two teams were tangled up together in a mess of paper, fake webs and streamers with Yusaku triumphantly standing in front of them. The novelist calmly walked towards them, raising a single hand up to tap all of them on the head “Germs, germs, germs aaand germs”   
  
Yusaku finished with his wife who pouted at him “I don’t get it! I know where all your traps are! How did you-“  
  
“What? Just because we’re married you expect me to tell you all my secrets??” Yusaku tsked at her “You don’t know me at all do you darling?”   
  
Yukiko muttered something under her breath and Shinichi gasped at her “Tou-saaan! Mama called you a not nice word!” Yukiko frowned at him and lightly bumped Shinichi with her shoulder.   
  
“Snitch” She accused.   
  
Yusaku rolled his eyes in amusement before he crouched down in front of the two little troublemakers that started this whole thing in the first place, worst of it is that the both of them didn’t even look sorry “So what do you think oh great war lords?” He smirked at the two of them then bowed, Kaito grinned and Shinichi snickered “Is this outcome to your liking? Has the war ended?? Will there be no more wretched germs to plague our lands now that everyone is infected?”   
  
Kaito glanced at Shinichi, his friend doing the same. The two boys stared at each other then they shrugged “Yeah I guess”  
  
“M’kinda tired anyway”   
  
Yusaku grinned at that “Good” He set to work to get all of them out of the mess they got themselves in.   
  
Once everyone was free, Yukiko stretched and happily giggled “Ah~ Such a rush! It makes me feel so young!”   
  
Yusaku scoffed at her as he picked off some fake web from her hair “You’re just childish”   
  
Yukiko shrugged “You love me anyway”   
  
Yusaku chuckled and spun her around to give her a quick kiss, Yukiko blinked in surprise then laughed and wrapped her arms around her husband’s neck. They paused when they heard gagging sounds, they looked down to spot the two boys covering each others’ eyes “Eeew!” They exclaimed at the same time.  
  
Yukiko giggled “You might think it’s gross now, but wait until you find your special someones”   
  
Shinichi pulled Kaito’s hand off his face to stick his tongue out and give his parents a withering look “Gross! Kaa-san don’t tell me that!”   
  
Kaito pulled Shinichi’s hand off to make the same face “Yeah! Mouth kisses are gross!!” They looked at each other and nodded “Shin-chan, promise me that if you see me giving someone mouth kisses you’ll punch me”   
  
“Same, not in the face though”  
  
“Yeah, definitely not in the face, maybe the arm” Kaito paused in his musings when Shinichi suddenly yawned, he squashed down his own yawn to smirk at him “Tired?”   
  
Shinichi nodded absentmindedly, rubbing his eyes “It’s been _hours_ Kaito, I think I wanna just lie down” His friend slightly glared at him and dug his shoulder “It’s your fault and your stupid magician germs”   
  
Kaito laughed at that and nonchalantly walked behind Shinichi “Sorry, I guess I’m gonna have to make it up to you hime-sama” Shinichi was about to berate him for the nickname if Kaito hadn’t tipped him over and make him fall into his arms. He blushed when he realized that the other boy was carrying him “Wow Shin-chan! You weigh like a feather!!”   
  
“Kaito put me down!!” He yelped when Kaito pretended to drop him, he glared at his friend “Properly!” Kaito shook his head and began to waltz out of the room with Shinichi in his arms, much to the amusement of the adults and Shinichi’s embarrassment.  
  
“No can do hime-sama, you said you were tired so I’m gonna carry you until we get to the royal couch! It wouldn’t be nice to make you walk when your feet hurt” He smiled down at his friend “Besides! I wouldn’t just let my hime-sama fall asleep on the dirty ground, that’s where the real germs are”   
  
Shinichi reddened even more and hit Kaito on the shoulder “That’s for calling me hime-sama” Kaito is happy to note that even if Shinichi looked annoyed, he settled down and let him carry him to the living room. He missed the cooing from both their mothers while Yusaku chuckled but said nothing.   
  
Kaito noticed that Shinichi was unusually quiet once they were out of the library and making their way to the living room, he frowned and looked down at his friend. Shinichi’s gaze was directed to the floor and something about his expression told Kaito that something was wrong, it was obvious to him by now, he spent so much time with Shinichi to know “….Will you be okay?” He asked quietly as if scared something would shatter if he talked too loud.   
  
Shinichi looked back up at him, surprised at the question, he smiled faintly at how Kaito worded it, certainly something only distinctly him like his magic was “I..uh…I dunno, I guess…I made Ran upset” Kaito hummed in response, saying nothing so Shinichi could tell him all about what happened if he wanted. Whether if it was in detail or not, he would listen to his friend “I said some stupid things to her face, something about saying that she wasn’t girly and she got really upset over it but, you know, I didn’t mean anything by it I just…I said it wrong? Or I dunno..” Shinichi sighed “I think I really hurt her feelings”   
  
Kaito looked at him with an unreadable expression, he sighed “You can always apologize when you see her again you know?”   
  
“Yeah but she looked really upset, I don’t know if sorry is enough”   
  
Kaito felt Shinichi curl his hand into his shirt, he patted his friend on the back with one hand “If that’s the case then you’re gonna have to wait until she’s not that mad anymore, I mean you said she wasn’t girly or something right?” He felt his friend flinch but he nodded, Kaito blew out air “Yeah I get you, girls think it’s an insult”   
  
Shinichi huffed “I didn’t mean it as an insult”   
  
Kaito chuckled at that, adjusting his grip on his friend “Girls are weird like that, that’s why you gotta be careful with words a lot when you talk to them”  
  
“Oh and you’re a girl expert now?”   
  
Shinichi’s grin was playful and Kaito mirrored it “No but I have experience and you do too, so you should know what I’m talking about” They reached the living room and Kaito practically tossed Shinichi into the nearest couch, his friend yelled in surprise and jumped out of the way when Kaito threw himself to the couch, landing in a less than graceful heap beside Shinichi, face first on the couch.   
  
“You could’ve killed me!!” Shinichi shoved him.   
  
Kaito turned his head to look at him “I wouldn’t have! I would never hurt my friend” He smirked “Especially not my hime-sama” He easily dodged the kick to his shin, Kaito laughed and sat up straight while Shinichi flopped backwards to lie down “…Some advice for girls though” Kaito poked at his friend’s leg to make sure he was listening, Shinichi waved at him to continue “You know how you and me speak right? It’s really different from how you speak to Ran-chan, I’m sure. I mean if you call her ‘idiot magician’ too, then I’ll be offended cause I’m not special”  
  
“Your point, _idiot_ _magician_?”   
  
“Point is Shin-chan, you can’t just speak to girls like you speak to me. It’s plenty different, watch your words is all I’m saying, they might not get Shinichi speak like I do”   
  
Shinichi’s leg kicked at him in response but it was weak “Stop inflating your own ego, your head is fat enough”   
  
Kaito clicked his tongue but still smiled at him “See? I get what you said there: ‘Kaito you’re a good friend and you’re super awesome’ Only I can translate Shinichi speak”   
  
Shinichi huffed at that but said nothing else, well he wouldn’t say Kaito was completely wrong….it’s the awesome part that’s wrong. His friend took his silence as a good thing and smugly leaned back, though he decided not to comment “Just rest Shin-chan, I’m not going anywhere. I’ll stand guard like your knight should!” When no reply came Kaito glanced down to see Shinichi sleeping peacefully. He chuckled and produced a blue rose to put on his friend’s sleeping figure “Nighty night hime-sama” As he promised, Kaito stayed by the couch until Shinichi woke up.  
  
  


* * *

 

“It’s SO late!! Why didn’t you wake me up earlier?!” Currently Shinichi was scribbling down on his homework that Kaito dutifully got for him when he requested it. Kaito of course was the first to greet him when he jolted upwards on the couch, panicking about his homework, the magician tried to cheerily greet him but was immediately bombarded with questions about time and where his schoolbag was.   
  
Now he was just swinging his legs back and forth from the couch while Shinichi worked on his homework beside him “You looked so peaceful!” Kaito defended “You were really tired Shin-chan, plus this is your only homework right? I don’t think it’s that big of a deal”   
  
“I could have been doing something else with the extra time!” Shinichi looked up from his work once before diving back into it without pausing.   
  
Kaito rubbed circles on his back “You’re gonna give yourself old people wrinkles with all that stressing” He paused then frowned at Shinichi “You’re like six, what else are you supposed to do with your time when you’re done with homework?”   
  
Shinichi actually faltered at that, he looked at his friend and gave him his own confused look as if no one had ever asked him that “Huh…what DO I do?” He shook his head then went back into his homework “Does it matter? I just don’t like wasting time”  
  
“Shin-chan, resting isn’t a waste of time. Kaa-san says it’s taking care of yourself and I agree to that, you have an excuse anyway” He smirked and poked his friend “Germs”  
  
“Kaito no” Shinichi batted his hand away, Kaito immediately took back his finger’s position on Shinichi’s shoulder, it got shrugged off, he put it back there, it got shrugged off with more force this time. The magician did it again and again until Shinichi groaned and turned to glare at him “Stop touching me”   
  
Kaito made his finger hover in response, Shinichi’s glare intensified “I’m not touching you”   
  
“YOU ARE!”  
  
“I’m not!”  
  
“I felt it!! Your finger nudged my shoulder!”   
  
“I’m not touching yoouuu!”  
“KAA-SAN!” Shinichi called out and Yukiko’s voice came floating in.   
  
“Kaito-kuuun~! I think it’s best if you stop touching Shin-chan, he’s not above biting your finger”   
  
Kaito looked to Shinichi in surprise whose face was turning a shade of red “I don’t bite fingers!!” He protested loudly only for Yusaku to pipe in.   
  
“Tell that to my finger Shinichi!”   
  
Shinichi’s eyes darted towards Kaito who had visibly scooched away, he shook his head “I don’t!”   
  
Kaito nodded dumbly “Yeah um, I’m keeping my hand away from you now” Shinichi shoved him, Kaito’s poker face split into a grin and he shoved Shinichi back.   
  
“Idiot” Shinichi huffed   
  
“Dummy” Kaito teased.   
  
When Shinichi had finished his homework, Chikage was the one to call them both in for dinner, Kaito had raced Shinichi to the table but Shinichi didn’t participate and simply walked, Kaito pouted at him for it. They sat beside each other. Shinichi was in the middle of telling Kaito about how Nami-chan found her way into his bedroom window (much to Kaito’s surprise who thought she flew away) when Yukiko cleared her throat to get their attention “So Kaito-kun” She began and Kaito turned his eyes towards her, humming in question “Have you picked out your costume for the party?”  
  
“Yeah! I’m gonna be the wizard of OZ!” He stated proudly.   
  
“Oh yes, Kaito’s been dragging me around for a costume when I told him about the party, it took several stores to actually get him something he’d like” Chikage added with a smile of her own.   
  
Yukiko sighed “Aw, I’m jealous, Shin-chan won’t let me dress him up at all”   
  
Kaito turned an incredulous gaze towards his friend who was shrinking into his seat “What?! You don’t have a costume yet?!”   
  
Shinichi pouted at his food “So? I don’t wanna go to the party…”  
  
“Silly! The party’s at YOUR house! If the person livin’ in where the party suppose’ta be isn’t dressed up then…I dunno! Bad luck could happen! It’s not okay”   
  
Shinichi slumped his shoulders, turning a tired look to Kaito “I don’t want to!” He whined.   
  
Kaito shook his head “You gotta though! Who am I supposed to talk to at the party?”  
   
“You can meet Ran”  
  
“I can’t meet Ran-chan without you! That’d be weird!! Cause she’s your friend and you’re my friend, if I don’t meet her through you it’s gonna suck!” Shinichi didn’t detect a single piece of logic in that sentence, Kaito was already pretty good at socializing so he didn’t understand why the other boy needed him to introduce Ran to him, he could just go up to her and do the flower trick, that’d be a good conversation starter.   
  
Although, the way Kaito looked pleadingly at him suggested that he didn’t even take his own social skills into consideration “That doesn’t make sense”   
  
Kaito latched onto his arm and turned up the puppy dog look “It does! Trust me! It’s gonna suck really bad if you aren’t the one to introduce us!”  
  
“She’s mad at me remember?”  
  
“You have three days Shin-chan! She won’t be as mad during the party, I’m sure of it!” Shinichi stared at his friend, Kaito was still directing his puppy look towards him, he growled and stabbed at his vegetables “Shin-chan I’m gonna be all alone, pleeeeaaaase?” Shinichi didn’t think Kaito would be alone, other kids would probably gravitate towards him the second he did anything remotely related to magic.   
  
Heck, other kids would probably still gravitate towards him if he did nothing, that was how captivating his presence was, people would only love him even more when he began to talk. He looked down again when Kaito tugged at his sleeve “Shinichi” He was surprised when Kaito used his whole name “I’m not gonna have any fun” He frowned.   
  
Shinichi gave him one last look then turned his attention back at his food. Kaito seemed to really want him to attend huh? “….I don’t have a costume” He tried weakly but it was clear that he was losing this one.   
  
Kaito brightened and got off him “No worries! We can go looking for your costume, right Kaa-san?” He turned towards his mother.  
  
Chikage nodded “Of course! Yukiko and I would be happy to take you boys out to find Shinichi-kun’s costume”   
  
Yukiko squealed at the prospect of getting to dress her little boy up, Shinichi blanched and shrunk further into his seat. He was going to regret this, he was sure of it, but Kaito seemed happy so he supposed he could tolerate it.  
   
After dinner was finished everyone went off to prepare for bed, Shinichi was surprised to hear that the two Kurobas would be staying overnight, Kaito happily popped confetti into his face yelling ‘surprise!’ but he didn’t mind at all. It was settled that tomorrow they would be going out to find his costume, Shinichi reluctantly went along with the plans but didn’t really listen in as the two adult women and Kaito began to talk about what stores they should go in that might have something he would like.   
  
It took a while but eventually everyone had to part to get to bed, goodnights were bid and the Kudo mansion’s lights flickered out one by one.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
In the middle of the night, Chikage was surprised to find the side where her son was supposed to be empty, she had discovered this when she moved her hand to pull Kaito closer to her. She panicked for a moment but relaxed when she saw their bedroom door open with a flower at the crack, Kaito always left those when he decided to sneak out of her sight without her knowing.   
  
She crawled out of bed and quietly went outside, she looked around the corridors but she already had an idea as to where her son went. She made her steps as light as possible when she reached the room she wanted, quietly opening the door a crack she peered in and smiled at the sight.  
  
 Shinichi was snuggled up under a blanket with Kaito sleeping soundly beside him, sprawled out as if acting as a second blanket for the other boy, Shinichi mumbled something in his sleep and swatted a hand around, Kaito’s own reaching out to keep it down and both of them fell back into sleep like that.  
  
Chikage closed the door again and walked back to her room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next childhood story arc in progress wooo, out of real time scheduled halloween segment yay. To be honest this whole party is just this chapter and the next so...
> 
> Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this little preparation chapter with all of these dork people. 
> 
> On a sidenote I have no beta nor am I brave enough to ask someone to be one for me or actually want one, I just stare at my work until I hate it. Fun right?
> 
> Adieu~


	6. We're off to see Dorothy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: MONSTER CHAPTER, VERY VERY VERY LONG.

Morning was too quick to come for the people who were resting within the walls of the Kudo mansion. The little game from yesterday had promptly tired all the adults out, especially Yusaku who never actually got a proper break between having to finish decorating the library on his own, and getting roped into trapping every single participant in the germs game.   
  
The novelist had immediately buried himself under a mound of pillows and duvets and shouted for his wife to leave him alone when she tried to get him to come out of bed, Yusaku miserably sobbed and proclaimed that he was dying when Yukiko wouldn’t let up. He didn’t care if he started acting like a child, he wasn’t about to leave his all too comfortable bed.   
  
Yukiko had left her husband alone once Yusaku seemed to be gearing up to start a fuss when she was pulling off his protective pillows, she did feel a little bad for not letting him rest yesterday so she decided that today was going to his lazy day. She even went out of her way to call up his editors and say that he was taking a small break for now, she even phoned Inspector Megure just in case he had the idea of contacting Yusaku for some case or another.   
  
Yusaku’s happy sigh from under his duvets was all the thanks she got and needed.   
  
Not that she minded a day without her husband, she had Chikage to help her out with some minor chores such as cooking, she was sure to make use of her friend before she and her son had to leave for home later, besides it could be like her payment for letting them stay over on such short notice.  
  
Just then, Chikage came out of her room looking bleary eyed and just as tired as Yusaku was “Ohayo Chikage” She chirped as she passed by her on the way to the stairs.   
  
Chikage sighed “I’m still tired” She said instead of a greeting.   
  
Yukiko giggled “Ara? You’re not that old yet, or are you?” She ignored the pointed glare as her friend fell into step with her “Where’s Kaito-kun? Is he still asleep?”   
  
Chikage yawned but smiled happily at her “You can ask your son, Shinichi-kun seems to always know where my Kai-chan is these days”   
  
Yukiko squeaked at that “They _are_ getting quite close aren’t they? Aaw, it’s so cute!”   
  
“Isn’t it? Kai-chan has always been going on about Shinichi-kun recently”  
  
“Ah? Him too?? Shin-chan does the same sometimes” The mothers giggled and cooed over their sons and their relationship “I’ve finally found the time to develop those pictures too! Oooh I can’t wait to show Yusaku!”   
  
Chikage sighed happily “Certainly something we’ll show the boys when they’re older nee?”   
  
“I almost can’t wait to see their faces! Then again…we’ll be older too” The both of them paused and decided to not think about the future just yet.   
  
Chikage had to part ways with Yukiko since she still planned to take a bath before coming down to help with breakfast, her friend waved her off and stated that she’ll leave some work for her to do before Chikage closed the bathroom door behind her.   
  
Yukiko smiled faintly then looked to her son’s room, the two boys should still be in there. She contemplated on waking them up but decided against it, Shinichi might not be an early riser but she had heard from Chikage that Kaito liked to rise with the sun, she had no problems leaving the boys to start their morning on their own.   
  
With that in mind, Yukiko merrily walked down the stairs whilst thinking of preparing some breakfast in bed for her poor Yusaku who won’t be moving around today any time soon.  
  
Back in Shinichi’s room, Yukiko was right about leaving the two boys to start their morning because Kaito was already up and about and just waiting for Shinichi to wake up too. He was careful in getting off his friend when he first opened his eyes, Shinichi was a heavy sleeper and he could get grouchy if he was woken up prematurely, something he had learned once when they were five and Shinichi was taking a nap. He still has scars.   
  
He did a little bit of stretching and running around the room to shake off the bits of sleep still clouding his mind, once he was fully awake he plopped down on the floor at the edge of the bed and just watched Shinichi’s face for any signs of waking up.   
  
Kaito grinned to himself and produced a blue flower with a flick of his wrist, it was a little crushed which he frowned at as he was sure he kept it somewhere safe, he shrugged and decided that he could work with this.   
  
As gently as he could he reached the flower over to his friend’s nose and wiggled it a little, as expected Shinichi’s face scrunched up and a hand sleepily batted at the flower but Kaito moved it out of the way before he could hit it, he tried it again and this time Shinichi grumbled and rolled over.   
  
Kaito climbed up the bed and tickled his friend’s nose again, Shinichi swatted at the flower since he couldn’t move it away fast enough, the fourth time he did it Shinichi sneezed and showed signs of slowly waking up. Kaito sat back on his heels as his friend turned around to his side again and rubbed his eyes, slowly blinking away the dredges of sleep.   
  
Shinichi exhaled loudly and looked around his room, his eyes paused on his friend who was grinning at him, Kaito snickered when he looked confused for a second “…is this a dream??” Shinichi coughed at the roughness of his voice.   
  
Kaito cooed and moved closer to his friend, petting his hair “Aaaw, you dream about me?”   
  
Shinichi’s stare was blank for a second, he sighed “No..this is a nightmare”   
  
Kaito feigned hurt and clutched at his chest “Shin-chan I think you hurt my feelings!” He smiled when Shinichi rolled his eyes at him and moved to pull the covers over his head, Kaito clutched at the duvet and stopped him “Ah ah ah~” He wagged a finger at Shinichi “I’m afraid that it’s time to wake up hime-sama, your kingdom will miss you if you don’t get out of bed” A harsh tug from Shinichi was his answer, Kaito decided to pull the whole duvet off in response.   
  
Shinichi squawked in surprise then glared at him “Gimme back my blanket jerk!”   
  
“We’re going down to have breakfast Shin-chan, I’m not giving your blanket back” Kaito chided with a click of his tongue.   
  
Shinichi buried his head under a pillow “I’m tiiired!” He whined.   
  
“You’re not! You slept like a log yesterday!!”  
  
“Only cause of you and your magic germs!!” It was muffled and Kaito didn’t get most of it but he did hear the magic germs part.   
  
The young magician sighed and began to pull at Shinichi’s legs “Let’s just go, I’m hungry Shin-chan”  
  
 Shinichi huffed from under the blanket and lifted it slightly to talk to him “Then go down on your own!”   
  
Kaito pulled harder and Shinichi yelped when he felt himself get dragged from his position “I’m not gonna let you starve Shin-chan!”  
  
“I’m not gonna starve idiot!!”  
  
“You’ll make yourself miss breakfast to be lazybones!! I see it in your eyes!”   
  
Shinichi peeked from under his pillow “Why do you care so much?”   
  
Kaito rolled his eyes and gestured at him “Duh? Cause you’re my friend _and_ my hime-sama!” He said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
Shinichi mumbled something along the lines of ‘I’m not your hime-sama’ before Kaito fully pulled him out of bed and slung him over his shoulder like a potato sack, Shinichi squeaked and reddened when he realized that sound came from him, Kaito noticed and laughed “Don’t make fun of me jerk magician!” He hit his friend’s back as Kaito walked them out of his room.   
  
 “This is your fault for not eating as much, you feel like a doll” The magician stated  
  
“Yeah? And you’re eating too much so that your body can match your fat head!” Shinichi stuck his tongue out at him and Kaito laughed in response.   
  
“I know you’re mad at me for waking you up but unlike you I don’t have school”   
  
Shinichi paused at that “…Oh..”  
  
“Yep ‘oh’, what? Does being with me make you feel like you’re on vacation??” He got no reply, just a weak protesting kick. Kaito deemed that today was gonna be a good day.   
  
They ran into Chikage who had just gone down the stairs herself, freshly cleaned from her shower and dressed up in loose flowery house clothing. Shinichi had gotten off Kaito’s shoulder at that point and was walking beside his friend to the dining room when he caught sight of his aunt-not-really-but-close-enough-aunt.   
  
He frowned at her flower patterned shirt and wondered why she wasn’t sick of flowers already, he sighed when Kaito greeted her and gave her a blue slightly wilting rose, she only smiled happily and tucked the flower behind her ear. Shinichi guessed that Chikage was just the kind of person who really liked flowers, which he supposed was appropriate considering her husband and her son’s hobby of flower showers.   
  
Yukiko greeted all three of them just as she was setting down breakfast on the table, Shinichi was just about to take a seat beside her had Kaito not pull him over to another side to take a seat beside him instead.   
  
When questioned- rather irritably- by the pint sized detective of his reasons, Kaito simply stated that it’s only appropriate if they took their previous seats from last night, it would be a hassle to make people switch places. Shinichi didn’t buy his story for a second but he sat down next to him anyway.   
  
As they were about to start eating, Yusaku came sleepily down the stairs, yawning his way into the dining room and startling Yukiko who was just about to go up with a tray of food, she smirked “Oh? Finally decided to join the land of the living dear?”   
  
Yusaku blinked at her and ruffled up his bed hair even more, he slowly moved his head down to peer at the food on the tray “Is that for me?”   
  
Yukiko sighed “It is, I was supposed to bring it up to you, poor baby, all tired from yesterday but it seems like you’re okay enough to come down for food so…” Yusaku turned around and Yukiko gaped at him, she grasped at his shirt and pulled him back, balancing the tray with just one hand “Just where do you think you’re going?!”  
  
“Breakfast in bed right? I’m going back” Yusaku sounded genuinely confused as to why his wife stopped him.   
  
Yukiko huffed and held out the tray behind her “Please hold this for me Chikage” She asked sweetly and her friend did so. Now that her hands were free she reached up and pinched one of Yusaku’s ears between her fingers.  
  
He yelped “Ow! Owowowow!!”   
  
She dragged her husband over to the dining table and deposited him at his chair, gracefully walking back to Chikage to take his food tray and placing it in front of him “You came down, you stay here” She stated firmly, Yusaku grumbled under his breath but went on to eat his breakfast as his wife took her seat to start eating as well.   
  
“Making me do all the work then forcing me to play…”   
  
Yukiko tsked when she heard Yusaku’s muttering “What kind of example are you presenting to the children dear? Man up and eat your breakfast, don’t talk with your mouth full as well, you might choke”  
  
“Hey Shin-chan look” Shinichi turned his attention away from his mother to look at his friend, Kaito shoveled food into his mouth then began to talk again “Ih’m ‘uhaku-ohisan!!” Shinichi blanched when he spoke with food in his mouth, he flinched when he noticed bits of food tumble to the floor as Kaito did imitations of his dad.   
  
“Kaito stop! You’re making a mess! You’re gonna choke!” Shinichi scrambled for a napkin and tried to get his friend to shut his mouth, Kaito guffawed and accidentally got some food on Shinichi who gasped in shock and began to hastily wipe off the food from his person “You never listen to me do you?! You’re gonna choke! Stop it!”   
  
Kaito responded by chewing close to Shinichi’s face, his friend yelled at him to stop and shoved napkins at him “Kaito Kuroba! Stop this right now!” Chikage chided and pulled her son away from Shinichi, Kaito grinned at his friend and Shinichi rolled his eyes at him.   
  
Yukiko huffed and turned to look at Yusaku “See? Now look what you’ve done! If you had just stopped being childish and let go of your grudge none of this would have happened you stubborn ox!”  
  
“Stop shouting at me, it’s too early”  
  
“I’m not shouting Yusaku, I’m modulating my voice”  
  
“You sounded like you were shouting”   
  
Meanwhile a rather eerily similar argument was transpiring between the two boys “You wasted food! Now you got it all over you too!”   
  
Kaito shrugged at this “It’s just some bits, relax Shin-chan”   
  
Shinichi huffed at him and wiped off a piece of carrot that got stuck on his friend’s shirt “Yeah but now you’re probably all gross and sticky and ants are gonna come eat your skin”  
  
“You’ll protect me from ants then!”  
  
“Idiot! Why would I do that?!”  
  
“You want me to be eaten by ants??”  
  
“They’ll probably get diabetes if they eat you”  
  
“Cause I’m sweet?” Shinichi sputtered and hit Kaito’s face with a napkin, the young magician snickered. Chikage watched all of this with faint amusement, she giggled to herself when she spotted Shinichi and his mother both reach over and pick off a bit of food from their partners’ face. She sighed to herself, there’s gonna be a lot of things she’d like to talk to Toichi about when they met up again.  
  
Once breakfast had gone a little cold- except for Chikage’s who had eaten her share and was now washing her plate- and the people at the table had cooled down, the Kudo parents and the two boys had slowly floated back into idle conversation “Don’t forget about later Shin-chan” Kaito reminded his friend who was just about to finish up his breakfast.  
  
Shinichi gave him a look “What about later?”  
  
“Your costume silly! My mom, me and your mom are going to pick you up from school later to go pick out your costume, at least that’s what I heard from my mom” Shinichi sighed inwardly, right, he had somewhat agreed to attend the party, which means he needs a costume.   
  
He decided that he didn’t like thinking about his doom so early in the morning so he steered the conversation away without replying to it “What are you gonna do while I’m at school?” He countered with a question instead.   
  
Kaito sighed dramatically and turned doe eyes at him “Wait for you to come back” He elbowed his friend, Kaito snickered and ran his fingers through his hair, messing it up even more if that was possible. He hummed “I was planning to go help your dad with setting up replacement traps for the ones we tripped yesterday, nee Yusaku-ojisan?”   
  
Yusaku stopped his conversation with Yukiko to spare Kaito a glance with a smile “Of course Kaito-kun, I’d appreciate the help”   
  
Shinichi narrowed his eyes at his friend, Kaito blinked innocently at him, he frowned and turned to his father “Don’t ever let him out of your sight tou-san”   
  
Yusaku frowned in confusion “And why is that Shinichi?”  
  
“Kaito’s gonna prank people really hard and he’s probably gonna use your traps to do it” He turned an accusatory gaze at his friend who only smiled “I can see the evil in his eyes”   
  
Yusaku laughed at this “Oh don’t worry Shinichi, I promise I’ll keep a close eye on Kaito-kun, I’ll make sure none of the traps we set up will get too extreme” He then turned his smile towards Kaito “And don’t think for one second that I don’t know what you’re planning Kaito-kun, knowing your father you’re probably thinking up of different ways to modify my traps like he would”   
  
Kaito tilted his head to the side and made himself look as innocent as possible “Don’t worry ojisan! I won’t do anything without you knowing!” Shinichi didn’t trust his act, he knew Kaito had found a way to entertain himself with magic traps, what almost happened yesterday with his bag was proof enough. He sent his father a look and Yusaku reassured him with a smile, Shinichi calmed down, Kaito wasn’t Toichi, his father had enough experience handling an older more experienced Kuroba so he trusted his abilities to keep Kaito in check. Still….the way Kaito had grinned when his father wasn’t looking worried him a little but he let it slide…for now.  
  
When Shinichi finished his food and prepared himself for school, he didn’t expect Kaito to come running down after him with water still in his hair, he furrowed his eyebrows in confusion once Kaito caught up to him “What are you doing?”  
  
“Walking you to school, duh?” Kaito opened the door for them and they both began to walk out of the Kudo property. Shinichi said nothing about Kaito tagging along so he just shrugged his back pack on and fell into step with his friend, in fact he was a little bit happier when they passed by the gates. His mood had lifted with Kaito beside him when he noticed that the front of his house was empty of a certain stubborn girl he called his friend, part of him actually hoped that Ran would still be waiting outside to walk with him but he knew better since she was still probably mad, of course she wouldn’t want to walk to school with him.   
  
The walk alone to school would have left him feeling bad if Kaito wasn’t there to distract him with this and that. Along the way, Shinichi remembered something important, he turned to his friend “Are you sure you’re gonna be able to get back home?”   
  
Kaito stopped his yapping when Shinichi actually contributed something in his one sided conversation, well not really contribute more like butt in and change the context of what he was talking about completely “What ‘cha mean by that Shin-chan?”   
  
“I mean how will you know the right way back to my house? You’ve never been down this road before”   
  
Kaito scoffed and waved his hand as if swatting his concern away “Pfft, don’t worry Shin-chan! My memory is the best, I know how to get back. I’m memorizing the road while we’re walking! I’ll get back easy peasy! One trip is all I need”   
  
Shinichi sighed “Just in case, there’s this house with a weird roof decoration that looks like a cat. If you get lost just meet me there and we can walk home together”   
  
Kaito rolled his eyes at him, an amused smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth “Don’t you believe in me at all Shin-chan?”   
  
Shinichi mirrored his smirk “You know how they say magical fairies die when you don’t believe in them? Yep” Kaito elbowed him for his comment but the pint sized magician took note of the house with the weird roof decoration anyway. It wouldn’t hurt to have a fall back plan.  
  
When they were nearing the school, Shinichi’s eyes landed on someone from a distance, he recognized her immediately “Ran?” He narrowed his eyes at the person and confirmed that it was his friend when she turned to look to the side “Hey, that’s Ran, do you want to- uh?” He looked to his side and found that his friend was gone, Shinichi looked around in confusion “Kaito?”   
  
As he was looking for his friend, Ran had also noticed him and shot him a particularly nasty glare that he didn’t see since he was looking for Kaito. She huffed and briskly walked away when he didn’t even notice her glaring at him, she was still mad at Shinichi no doubt but she just got irritated that her friend didn’t see her and seemed to be distracted by something else, he didn’t even look remotely guilty about yesterday. She couldn’t help but feel a little bit hurt by that. With a sigh she hurried her pace to put enough space between her and Shinichi as possible.  
  
Meanwhile the boy in question was completely oblivious to the rage of emotions that swept away his friend to look for his other friend who had apparently vanished into thin air “Is she gone?” He whipped his head to the side where he spotted Kaito hiding behind a pole.   
  
Shinichi sighed “Why are you hiding?”   
  
Kaito peered around the pole to see if they were alone, when he saw that they were he merrily stepped out again to walk with Shinichi “Cause you said Ran is there!”   
  
“Hah? Why would you hide if Ran was here?”  
  
“Becaaaause, I told you that I’m supposed to meet her at the Halloween party. I’m like your surprise mystery guest! Trust me, it’ll be waaaay more fun like that” The glint in his eyes spelled something nasty for Shinichi, the last time he saw that glint they both got grounded for two weeks.   
  
“What are you planning?”   
  
Kaito shot him a surprised look “Me? Planning? I would never-!” He stopped when Shinichi gave him a blank pointed stare, he shrugged “Well okay yeah _maybe_ I _might_ have _possibly_ planned _something_ , nothing too much though”  
  
“Just tell me already so I can assess the damage you might do”   
  
Kaito pouted at him “Seriously Shin-chan, all this disbelief from you is starting to hurt my feelings” He sighed and began “I just thought that, maaaybe, we should put our looks to good use” Shinichi side eyed him suspiciously but Kaito ignored it in favor of unfolding his plan to his unwilling future accomplice “Halloween’s supposed to be a time where kids can pick tricks or treats right? So what if we give Ran-chan a neat trick?”  
  
“Kaito” Shinichi warned.  
  
“Hear me out Shin-chan!” He stopped Shinichi from walking by running in front of him and placing his hands on his shoulders “What if we pretend to be each other?? We can meet Ran-chan at different times but it would always be different and we would always be somewhere else! It’ll be like a fun game of guess who!”   
  
Shinichi took his hands off his shoulders and walked around him “Baaro! Ran’s already mad at me, if we get her annoyed by doing that at the party then it’ll get worse!”   
  
“Then you gotta apologize to her already!” Kaito ran to his side again, frowning at him “Trust me, you don’t want a girl to hold a grudge against you, they’ll hate you forever!” Shinichi visibly paled at that and Kaito patted him on the back “I don’t know how to tell you this Shin-chan, but if a girl’s gonna hate you forever she won’t say anything, they like to scare us boys like that so that we won’t suspect anything when they decide to attack!!”   
  
Shinichi stiffened then glared at his friend “Don’t say stuff like that!”   
  
“Exactly why you need to apologize right away! Ran-chan is your friend right? You don’t want to ruin your friendship do you??” Shinichi didn’t answer but he was starting to get increasingly worried about what Ran thought of him as time ticked on. Before they reached the school, Kaito stopped walking with him and announced that this was as far as he would go since he didn’t want to spoil Ran’s surprise, he reminded Shinichi to apologize to his friend and that he should do it before it got too late.   
  
Shinichi waved him off and told him not to worry, he was planning to apologize to her anyway, with that he bid his friend goodbye while Kaito bid him good luck with a thumbs up before he ran out of sight. Shinichi just hoped that Kaito wasn’t bluffing when he said that his memory was top notch.   
  
When he turned back around to look up at the school, he spotted Ran talking to Sonoko, both girls turned their heads and saw him and both had equally scary glares plastered onto their faces when they noticed him, he shrunk into his shirt, this was going to be a long day.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
As he promised to himself, he spent the entire day trying to apologize to his friend, although it….wasn’t really going as he hoped it would.   
  
The first time he tried was before their first class started, he immediately made a beeline towards Ran but Sonoko blocked his path and stated that jerks like him weren’t allowed to talk to pretty girls like Ran, he tried to explain that he was there to apologize but the bell had rung and everyone was being ushered into their seats. Shinichi hoped he could grab a seat next to Ran but she had already asked someone else to sit beside her, he sat dejected at another chair.   
  
The second try was during recess, he was about to approach Ran but the bodies of their other classmates pushing to be let out first drove them apart, Ran was swept away and he was held back until the classroom had emptied of students, he tried to run after her but she was already lost in the crowd.   
  
The third time he tried was during class itself and the teacher had asked them to partner up, he was determined to get to her this time and had pushed a lot of people out of Ran’s way to be her partner, unfortunately Ran had a partner already when he got to her and she refused to acknowledge his existence.   
  
Shinichi was starting to feel hopeless.   
  
Around lunch time he half tried to apologize to her again, it was the same result of getting ignored or taken by some other person, that person being Ran’s appointed bodyguard against him: Sonoko. They never even spared him a glance.   
  
He sighed and walked down the hallways alone, just trying to clear his head a little “Wow Kudo you were really great! I’d love to see you perform again!” Someone clapped him on the back as he passed them, he looked at them confusedly but they were already gone before he could question them “Jeez Kudo! If I knew you had hidden talents I should’ve hung out with you more!” Another one of his classmates smiled and hit his shoulder in a playful way as he passed, Shinichi got even more confused. What were they talking about?   
  
When he reached his classroom it only got worse as he was bombarded by almost everybody in his class, they swarmed around him and trapped him in a circle, Shinichi was just a little bit scared now “Kudo-kun you were awesome! Especially with all those flowers?! Wow!”   
  
A girl giggled and twirled a little pink flower around, some boys around her grumbled something about Shinichi having no shame since he already had Ran, he blushed deeply at the comment but his confusion still showed on his face “Why didn’t you tell us you could do magic? You should’ve done it for show and tell!!” Shinichi had a sinking feeling in his stomach, it almost felt like he swallowed a rock.....a rock that was idiot magician shaped.   
  
He groaned inwardly when his classmates began to ask him to do more magic tricks, telling him that he should have done it sooner since he was so good at it, some of them even teased and said that he was like a superhero with an alter ego. He sighed “Excuse me but when was the last time you saw me?” His classmates paused at that and sent him confused looks.   
  
“What are you talking about Kudo? You _just_ got out from the field with us”   
  
Shinichi huffed and began to walk out of the crowd and classroom “Where did I go?”   
  
His classmates were silenced into confusion at this point. Why was Kudo asking about himself? “Uh…you went behind the school before we got to the classroom? What did you do there? Did you hit your head?” He didn’t answer the question as he was already running down the hallway and out of the school building.   
  
Shinichi didn’t pause to circle the school and get behind it, once there he slowed down and looked around him “Kaito I know you’re there! What are you doing here?!” His friend jumped down from a tree, startling him for a while.   
  
Kaito nonchalantly walked towards him while picking leaves off his clothing “I came back ‘cause I was worried about you Shin-chan!”   
  
Shinichi glared at him and waved his arms around “Are you insane?! You’re basically trespassing! You’re not a student here! And aren’t you supposed to be at home helping my dad?”   
  
Kaito shrugged and leaned against Shinichi when he was close enough “It doesn’t take long to put traps back up Shin-chan, and I’m not trespassing! I’m visiting, people just think I’m you so I let myself in!”  
  
“That’s called identity theft Kuroba” Shinichi then shoved him off him “What do you mean you were worried about me?! I can take care of myself!”   
  
Kaito tsked at him and shoved his hands in his shorts’ pockets “I know you can, but did you apologize to Ran-chan yet?” When Shinichi faltered Kaito continued “That’s what I thought, I’m here to help you Shin-chan”  
  
“I don’t need your help” It was mumbled and barely audible but Kaito was close enough to hear it, he didn’t miss the subtle tired tone in his friend’s voice and he was here to remedy that.   
  
“Yes you do hime-sama, I’m here to help because I _want_ to, that’s what friends are for”   
  
Shinichi spared him a glance, Kaito was smiling at him, he sighed “…I tried everything”   
  
“Clearly you haven’t” Kaito moved them so that they were nearing the corner of the school building, Kaito looked around the corner and Shinichi couldn’t help but be reminded of the time they sneaked into the entertainment hall to watch Toichi, even now Kaito tried hard to keep them unseen “Have you tried the flower apology?”   
  
He turned to face Shinichi again and put his hands behind his back to produce a small bouquet of yellow roses, Shinichi rolled his eyes “So that’s why you smelled like a daisy…”  
  
“Hush you, this is your apology, don’t tempt me to make them disappear and AH-!” He put a finger to Shinichi’s mouth when he saw the gears in his friend’s mind begin to move “Don’t start stalling by telling me how I managed to hide a whole bouquet of roses from you, pick my trick apart later, right now you have an apology to deliver”   
  
Shinichi huffed and took the offered bouquet from his friend “Whatever flower boy” Kaito smirked in amusement and pushed him out into the open while he stayed hidden behind the corner.   
  
“Just go and say sorry already! I’ll be close” Shinichi heard Kaito’s footsteps run away from him, he inhaled deeply and set off to look for Ran, hoping that Kaito’s flowers won’t go to waste. He knew his friend liked to grow his flowers himself; it would be a shame if something Kaito grew out of love for his magic wouldn’t at least be appreciated. Shinichi wasn’t really sure where that thought came from but he agreed with it anyway.  
  
It wasn’t hard to find Ran, Sonoko was being loud as usual and Shinichi had heard her from a distance, gushing about some brand new crush or another. He hid the flowers behind his back and swallowed when Ran laughed at something Sonoko had said, here goes everything.   
  
Shinichi marched up to the two girls without them noticing as he didn’t want Ran to just suddenly walk away at the sight of him, once he was behind them he cleared his throat to get their attention, Sonoko was the first one to turn her head to look and she rolled her eyes at him “Great, it’s the jerk” She glared at him “What do you want? Can’t you see that Ran doesn’t want to talk to you? You’ll probably hurt her feelings again”   
  
  
He flinched at that and turned his gaze towards his long time friend who refused to look at him “Sonoko I’m not here to hurt Ran’s feelings I-“  
  
“What? You think I’d believe you? After what you did to Ran??” Sonoko paused when Ran placed a hand on her shoulder.  
  
“Let’s just go Sonoko” Ran quietly told her friend, not looking anywhere near Shinichi.  
  
Sonoko sighed and helped her up, scowling at Shinichi as she did so “Yeah let’s go Ran”   
  
Shinichi tightened his hold on the flowers and ran ahead of them, he stopped in front of the two girls “I’m here to say sorry!!” He shouted out before they turned around again.  
  
Sonoko scoffed “Yeah right, see you mystery geek” She tugged on Ran’s arm but the other girl didn’t budge, Sonoko sent her friend a confused look “Ran?”   
  
Ran kept her eyes to the ground and slowly slid Sonoko’s hand from her arm, she approached Shinichi but refused to look at him “Why did you….why did you say those things Shinichi?” Her friend stiffened at her tone, Shinichi bit his lower lip and looked to the ground as well “I don’t understand….you don’t think I’m..?”   
  
“Ran…no I didn’t mean it like that”   
  
Ran’s eyes flickered toward her friend, she rubbed her arms “What _did_ you mean Shinichi?”   
  
The young Kudo sighed and shrugged “Something else…I dunno the words for it but I didn’t mean to hurt you like that” Ran was startled when her view was suddenly taken over by the color yellow, she blinked and looked down at the bouquet of yellow roses Shinichi was holding out to her, she looked up at her friend but couldn’t really see his face well since he wasn’t looking at her “Look I…I felt really bad that I hurt you, I promise that I didn’t mean to insult you it just..it came out wrong okay? So…”   
  
Ran was turning a little bit red at the gesture her friend was making to apologize to her, she fiddled with the edge of her shirt as Shinichi worked through his words “I’m really _really_ sorry Ran, I hope you can forgive me. You had the right to get mad at me, I really was a jerk…” Shinichi looked back at her when he felt Ran hesitantly take the bouquet from him, she held it close to her chest.  
  
“Shinichi-“ She was cut off when the bouquet suddenly popped and small pieces of confetti and glitter fluttered to the sky, Ran gaped up at it and spotted a little pink ribbon fluttering down with the word ‘Sorry’ on it, it landed harmlessly on her head.   
  
Shinichi was also surprised when it happened, he knew Kaito had been the only one to tweak it but before he could think on it further, a quiet giggle brought him back to the present, he turned his attention towards Ran who was picking the ribbon off her head “Shinichi…you didn’t have to do that”  
  
Shinichi didn’t know what to say cause he really wasn’t the one who did that “I uh…well..”   
  
Ran smiled brightly at him and walked up to him to give him a quick hug “I’m still kinda mad at you but….I guess you really meant it”   
  
He smiled back at her when she pulled away then he moved to give her a one armed hug, much to her surprise “Idiot, of course I meant it. I never wanted to hurt you”   
  
She blushed but he didn’t notice it, Ran elbowed his side and laughed quietly “..Thank you for the flowers Shinichi” She then took the ribbon and wrapped it around her arm “I’m keeping this ribbon if you don’t mind?”   
  
“Nope” Shinichi coughed when he remembered that he was still hugging her and immediately drew his arm back with a blush “So I uh…I guess I’ll be looking forward to your costume at the party, whatever it is I’m sure you’ll look great”   
  
Ran giggled and hugged the bouquet “I’ll be excited about your costume too Shinichi”   
  
Sonoko called for her friend again, both Ran and Shinichi turned to look at her “If you guys are done with your lovers’ quarrel?” The two kids sputtered.   
  
“L-Lovers’ quarrel?!” Shinichi choked.  
  
“Sonoko don’t say that!!” Among the crowd of students another little boy watched the scene unfold. Kaito smiled to himself, knowing that Shinichi was feeling better now that Ran wasn’t all that mad with him, his friend had been a little down since yesterday so seeing him happy now made him happy, he was glad to know that he had been some help.   
  
He watched as Ran- who surprised him because wow, Ran looked a whole lot like Aoko, he decided to double check on his friend when he got back to Ekoda just to make sure Aoko wasn’t actually Ran who lied about her name to him- happily grabbed Shinichi’s arm and pull him towards the other girl- Sonoko right?- and urge him to come with them, the Sonoko girl protested a little but Ran seemed to persuade her well enough for Shinichi to come join. He chuckled when Ran pressed herself closer to his friend and Shinichi simply grinned down at her while she excitedly began to tell him about something.   
  
The magician smiled widely at their interaction, Ran surely made herself a name as Shinichi’s first and best friend, he had never seen his friend smile as wide as he did when he was with her.  
  
Still….he couldn’t help but feel…weird about something as he watched the two of them. Kaito was confused at himself but shrugged it off and happily skipped out of the school. He was just glad that he helped mend a friendship, nothing hurts more than losing a friend after all.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
Shinichi felt really good when school was over, he was happy that Ran wasn’t mad at him anymore and the weight in his chest had finally gone with that knowledge. She even asked him if he would like to walk home with her again, he would have said yes but then he remembered that he was supposed to go out to find a costume, he had apologized to her again and explained what was going to happen to him.   
  
She only looked a little bit disappointed but she perked up again when he said that it was so he could go costume shopping, she berated him for doing it last minute but wished him luck as she made her way back home. Shinichi waved her goodbye until she was out of sight.   
  
Shinichi was leaning against a wall and watching as students one by one went straight home, he wondered what was taking his chaperones so long….he should have seen in coming. He felt the wind get knocked out of him and suddenly saw the sky when he realized he had been glomped to the ground, the culprit being a certain clingy magician “HI SHIN-CHAN!”   
  
He winced at Kaito’s loud tone and wheezed when his friend tightened his hug “Ow!” He yelled when Kaito squeezed a little too hard, he squeaked in surprise when the magician picked both of them up and carried him like he did yesterday.   
  
Kaito nuzzled his hair “Did ya’ miss me Shin-chan? I hope you’re doing good now! You apologized right??”   
  
Shinichi pushed his face away and wiggled out of his hold, he landed safely on his feet “I literally just saw you a few hours ago” He answered Kaito’s first question just as the magician slung his arm around his shoulders.   
  
“Yeah I apologized….didn’t you think the confetti and glitters were a little too much??”   
  
Kaito laughed and directed the both of them to walk to a certain road “It never hurts to go the extra mile Shin-chan! I’m assuming she liked it?”   
  
“Pretty much” He scoffed and shook his head before turning a smile towards his friend “Thanks for helping”   
  
Kaito looked down at him with an unreadable expression before his face broke out into a grin and he ruffled his friend’s hair “No sweat ya dingus! I’ll always have your back!” Shinichi chuckled and swatted Kaito’s hand away and was promptly pulled into an impromptu wrestling match until Yukiko found them both and split them up before they started elbow driving each other to the ground as she said ( _“Just like with that stick of butter” “Shin-chan! How could you! We promised to never speak of that again!” “Tell that to the butter family”_ ).   
  
Yukiko led them both to where Chikage stood by waiting near the school, the two mothers sent each other amused glances when the boys never even acknowledged them and stayed in their own little world.   
  
They had agreed to take the bus to some shopping centers after Chikage had loudly protested that she didn’t want Yukiko to drive them anywhere after the last time she offered to drive and it ended up with Toichi losing his lunch at the side of a road.   
  
Yukiko took offense to it but Yusaku confiscated her keys when he realized that she wanted to take the car out, he even locked himself in their room with every other key they owned, so she had no choice anyway and she would NEVER pass up a chance to play dress up with her Shin-chan, she supposed it was just a tiny sacrifice of pride.   
  
The bus ride was fairly peaceful, not many people rode on since it was still technically a school day so it’s to be expected that only few would be heading to the shopping centers, although Halloween would be celebrated in just two days many had already prepared in advance, plus not a lot of places celebrated much of the day.   
  
Tokyo was just one of the few who got swept up in the craze where many stores used Halloween to an advantage to up their sales on items relating to it, it was convenient for those who actually wanted to celebrate Halloween so what was the point of complaining? The children seemed to be happy enough to have a whole day to gather as much candy as they can “I told you! I saw three red cars!”  
  
“Noooo! I was looking out the same window you did! I saw two, you’re lying!”   
  
Yukiko looked to her side where the two boys were seated and were looking out the window together “That’s cause your eyes suck and my eyes can see everything! Why do you think I notice the smallest movements when you do your magic tricks?”   
  
Kaito stuck his tongue out at Shinichi in response “That’s cause you have freaky eyeballs that aren’t human!” Shinichi punched Kaito’s shoulder, Kaito turned quickly and licked his hand, Shinichi yelled in disgust and shoved his friend while wiping the saliva on Kaito’s shirt. Yukiko giggled   
  
“Maybe not all children care that much…”   
  
She smiled with fondness when Kaito made a small white flower appear, something she realized was the very same kind of flower he gave her little Shin-chan when they first met, she quietly ‘aww’ed at them when her son took the flower and said something that apparently made Kaito happy enough to hug him, she laughed when Shinichi rolled his eyes but didn’t pry the magician off, twirling the flower silently in his hands.   
  
When they arrived at their stop, Kaito had to drag Shinichi out of the bus, Yukiko took this as a sign that Shinichi wasn’t too happy with what they were doing and helped the young magician get her son off the bus.   
  
Shinichi had sulked once they entered the shopping center and took to unhappily following them from behind, the two mothers were busy gushing about the party and eyeing the different shops to notice that the young Kudo was now in such a foul mood.   
  
Kaito was the only one who lagged behind a little to fall into step with his friend when he noticed Shinichi trying to set fire to the shopping center with his eyes “You know that arson is illegal right?”   
  
That heated glare was shifted over to him, Kaito was a little scared that he might suddenly combust under its weight “I only came out here cause you guilt tripped me”   
  
Kaito patted his cheek, for some reason or another that Shinichi doesn’t know but doesn’t care to find out at the moment “That’s because you were being such a grouch, your family is hosting and you don’t want to participate?” He frowned and pocketed his hands, looking ahead “And I told you….I won’t have anyone to talk to”  
  
“That’s stupid, mom and dad invited people with their kids, you can make friends easily with your magic tricks”  
  
“I don’t want to make new friends, I have you already” Shinichi raised an eyebrow at the whiny tone that laced the edge of Kaito’s voice, his friend had puffed his cheeks out and was glaring at the ground “Why would I want someone new?” Kaito turned his sulky gaze towards Shinichi “It’s more of an adult party right? It’s gonna be boring at some point and you’re the only one who’d ever go with what I’m planning”  
  
“Hah?! When did I agree to anything you planned?!” Kaito’s expression shifted into a sly one and Shinichi had to reword his sentence “I mean for the party idiot! Other times didn’t count”   
  
“When you agreed to go costume shopping” Shinichi tilted his head to the side in confusion, Kaito clarified “That’s when you agreed to my plans, I know you did” Shinichi crossed his arms with a shake of his head, Kaito grinned up at him and used him as some sort of wall to lean on as they walked “See? You admitted it”  
  
“I didn’t!”  
  
“You could’ve said that earlier, now you’re just denying it” Shinichi quickened his pace to catch up to their mothers ahead of them, he heard Kaito’s footsteps follow soon after along with his laughter. The worst part was, Kaito was probably right about his agreement, he knew he’d get bored too at some point during the party, since he already hated the idea of attending it the only one who could alleviate his boredom would be the bouncing ball of a flower dispenser he called his friend.   
  
So when Kaito began to blabber about his plan to surprise Ran, he contributed to the conversation, if only to moderate the semi prank he wanted to pull on his friend.  
  
The shopping center they entered was very open aired, different kinds of shops lined up against each other and simple trees were planted in the middle of two walkways, there were no doors to enter the place, guards were the first to greet you at the gaping entrances that blew in the chilly wind of an October afternoon, a large translucent roof that stretched through the whole center being the only guard against the elements.   
  
Shinichi laughed when a pile of orange leaves flew in and began to cover Kaito from head to toe as he used him as a buffer, his friend had sputtered that a leaf got in his mouth and later Shinichi helped him get most of them off when he began to stumble as another leaf hit him in the eyes.   
  
Chikage had complained that the wind was getting too chilly and asked Yukiko why they had to chose this particular place, Yukiko explained that she saw a lot of shops selling costumes the last time she was here and was sure that Shinichi would at least find something he would agree to wear during the party.   
  
The first shop they went to was completely swamped with people looking for something to wear for Halloween, Kaito had to grab hold of Shinichi’s hand to keep them from getting separated in the crowd, Chikage was the one to keep track of the two boys while Yukiko was the one who made a way for all of them with her demanding ways, many people who had recognized her as an actress before though had only come closer to see if it was really her, although she was flattered she still made sure that they could move around without getting cornered.   
  
Since the shop was completely overrun, they reasoned that all the good costumes must have been taken already so they moved on.   
  
The second shop still had a number of people but it wasn’t as suffocating as the first. Yukiko took her chance to pull Shinichi along to look at the number of costumes still left from early costume raids by others, she had merrily pulled down an armful of costumes and was now overwhelming her son by asking whether or not one or another would look cute on him or if he liked anything he saw.   
  
Shinichi couldn’t get a single word in since she would just switch from costume to costume before he could answer any of her questions, he suspected that he might not even ever get a say in anything and his mother was just choosing the costumes _she’d_ like him to wear “Oh look! This prince costume is nice isn’t it? Oh you would look so dashing Shin-chan!” Yukiko squealed as she held the blue prince costume out in front of her son “Oh I know! Your dad and I can be the king and queen!! It’s not too late to switch up our costumes, your father always was such a fuddy duddy anyway! This would be perfect~!”   
  
He sighed to himself as his mother began to go on and on about the costume he really didn’t feel like wearing, it looked stuffy and had too many layers, it was probably itchy too. He wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of wearing that the whole night “Psst!” He glanced to the side where the sound came from, Kaito was peeking out from behind a rack of clothes.   
  
The magician beckoned him over with one finger and Shinichi glanced back at his mother who seemed busy with picking out crowns and accessories to go with his costume, he winced and quietly tip toed away from her and towards his friend “You looked like you needed saving” Kaito told him once he was close enough, his mother was still blabbering to herself and he knew she wouldn’t notice he was gone until later.   
  
“You think? Have you seen what my mom picked out??”   
  
Kaito snickered and reached down to grab his hand as he led him somewhere else “Yeah, your face said it all, I think it might be itchy too” Shinichi made an agreeing sound from the back of his throat while the both of them looked around the shop’s other costumes lined up.   
  
He noticed that some were ruffled and placed haphazardly on top of other things, he guessed that some buyers had tried them on and didn’t like it and was just too lazy to put them back properly “Obviously the two of us are gonna have to do this solo” Kaito let go of his hand and walked up to a shelf full of costumes, Shinichi was surprised to note that he felt a flower in his hand just as soon as Kaito let go, he wondered if it was an accident or if his friend meant to leave it with him “There’s a reason why I was the one that pulled my mom around for my costume” Kaito picked out an armful of costumes that- thankfully- didn’t look as bad as the ones his mother chose for him “No one knows what you want better than you right?”   
  
He handed his load to his friend who looked down at them in contemplation “Check ‘em out, I think you might like the simpler ones, I dunno, it’s up to you” He smiled at his friend and grabbed his arm to pull him around again “I saw a changing room here, you’re gonna go modeling Shin-chan!” With a few protests from Shinichi, Kaito pushed him into a changing room along with all of the costumes they picked out.   
  
While he was changing- reluctantly so- he heard Kaito’s teasing tone from outside, reminding him of the time when he made a fuss about changing clothes with him still around, Shinichi told him to shut up.   
  
The first few costumes were the basics, the one that Shinichi tried on first was the skeleton costume, the next was the ghost one that he called out as just a piece of white sheeting with holes in it and the one costume that he absolutely refused to try out: Pumpkin. Kaito had done his best to be an annoying commentator by shooting off unnecessary comments that Shinichi didn’t enjoy hearing, it usually ended with the costume getting thrown at him.   
  
Finally after a time, Shinichi decided that he rather liked the grim reaper costume, Kaito told him he was basic for choosing that one and ‘what’s the difference between the ghost one? That one’s just black and has a hood’, Shinichi thought it was perfect since he could wear his own clothes underneath, it didn’t make him look all that dumb like the ghost one did and it wouldn’t be such a hassle to take off when he decided that he had enough of the party.   
  
He told Kaito his reason for choosing it and his friend had begrudgingly agreed to it (since Shinichi was agreeing to his plans, Kaito gave him this one). Shinichi on the other hand was thankful that Kaito got him away from his mother, it didn’t surprise him when the other boy just dragged him away to look for costumes themselves no questions asked. He learned quickly that swinging with Kaito was just something they would just do, many people may think that it’s spontaneous at times but Shinichi knows Kaito always had a reason, this one in particular was to help him and for that he appreciated it greatly.  
  
They found Yukiko squabbling with Chikage and that they were apparently looking for the both of them, when the mothers saw them coming over they made a beeline towards their sons with matching exasperated looks “Honestly the two of you! Always going off on escapades together!” Yukiko said.   
  
“If you two are always sneaking around without us knowing, one day we might assume the worse!” Chikage said. Though there was a certain lilt in their voices that the two of them couldn’t really place, the boys just shrugged it off and filed that piece of information away for another day.   
  
Shinichi had shown his mother the costume he wanted, although she was a little disappointed that he didn’t like the prince costume and chose something simple, she relented since this whole trip was for him anyway, the whole point was for him to get something _he_ wanted.   
  
It didn’t stop her from perking up again and telling him that she’ll do his make up for the costume and make sure that he was the best looking grim reaper at the party, Shinichi blanched at the idea of getting something put on his face but he went along with his mother’s planning, she was so excited to dress him up as a prince so this was the least he could do to make up for that.   
  
With the day drawing darker, Yukiko had given up on swaying her son to get the prince costume instead, she purchased the one he got albeit a little sulky when she did. To Shinichi though, it was a full win.   
  
They agreed that it was too late to just get to their houses and cook up a meal, so that was how the group found themselves strolling down the street in search for a nice enough fast food joint. Yukiko in particular avoided the ones that looked like they would sell grease on a plate and call it soup, her motherly tendencies showing when she told the boys that she wasn’t about to let them eat slop that was too unhealthy for any human being.   
  
Chikage had joined in on the health talk as well and even pointed out to her son that he should stop eating so much sweets. The boys, as children do, ignored their mothers’ lectures on health and went talking about the very food their mothers deemed unhealthy but were their favorites anyway.   
  
They did find a place eventually and it seemed like a sort of weird mix of a café and a fast food restaurant, it was as if the place couldn’t decide to be one thing or another, they way it was decorated was like a café- homey and quaint with minimal warm decorations- but the smell, sound and the feel of it was like a fast food joint- loud and bustling with the reeking scent of oil.   
  
They grabbed a table and Chikage went off to order their food, along with some take out to bring to the two adult men the women had to come home to. That left Yukiko alone with the boys for the meantime.  
  
She sat across from them and idly observed what they were doing, Kaito was busy folding a piece of tissue while Shinichi subtly watched him, sometimes touching the bag with his costume underneath the table as if he was afraid someone would steal it “It’s not gonna hold” He commented as Kaito folded up another corner of the tissue.   
  
“It’s gonna! I handpicked this tissue myself, it’s the strongest most toughest one!”   
  
“Gross”  
  
“Whaddaya mean ‘gross’?”  
  
“If it’s stiff then something must’ve spilled on it and hardened the tissue…”  
  
“Eew! Shin-chan why’d you gotta tell me that?!”   
  
Kaito had promptly let go of the tissue and was now glaring at Shinichi, who in turn blew the piece of tissue further away from them “I tell ‘em like I see ‘em” Was the curt reply.   
  
Yukiko hummed happily to herself as she watched them interact, it was nice to see her little boy grow close with someone else outside of their family, she secretly hoped that this friendship of theirs would hold for years to come, it’s hard to find good friends these days. She pretended not to notice when Shinichi folded up a piece of tissue into a crane and placed it on top of a pouting Kaito’s head.  
   
By the time the food came in, Kaito was busy balancing a tower of paper cranes on his head while Shinichi added one after another when his friend told him that he got everything steadied enough for another crane, Shinichi complained that he can’t fold cranes fast enough then chided Kaito when he tried because he wobbled their crane tower when he moved to snatch a piece of tissue to fold.   
  
Shinichi then warned his friend to not laugh while they were doing this, it caused some sort of chain reaction where Kaito began to giggle right after Shinichi told him not to laugh, the young Kudo berated him and told him to stop but that giggle became a chuckle and only went further up from there, Shinichi gave Kaito a hard look- thinning his lips to a line and mustering all of his seriousness into his eyes- while he folded another crane, Kaito snorted and Shinichi slapped a hand over his mouth for it “I said quit it! You’re gonna ruin everything we worked hard for!”   
  
Apparently Shinichi scolding him while folding a crane with one hand was funny, because Kaito guffawed and the motion of his shaking body finally toppled their tower of tissue cranes, it rained down and scattered around them.   
  
Kaito was straight out laughing now and Shinichi gaped at the destruction that occurred, he scowled at his friend and hit his shoulder multiple times “See! You ruined it!! We could’ve touched the roof!” Kaito just kept laughing and Shinichi just kept hitting him.   
  
“Well, now the restaurant has very nice paper crane tissues thanks to the both of you” Chikage smiled as she sipped a bit of her iced tea.   
  
Yukiko giggled “Oh yes, I’m sure the next customers will be very surprised to have a row of tissue cranes waiting for them at this table”   
  
Later that row of tissue cranes was once again turned into a tower, this time Shinichi decided that he doesn’t want his creation to be on top of a living incarnation of an earthquake and set it in the middle of their table, some customers who just walked in eyed their table in amusement.   
  
With their husbands’ take out bags all set and their stomachs full of cheap food, the group stood outside of the café food joint and were about ready to say their goodbyes “I suppose we’ll be seeing the two of you this Saturday then?”   
  
Yukiko hugged her friend and smiled at her when they parted “Of course Yukiko, don’t forget to make those pastries I told you about”   
  
Kaito also gave Shinichi a hug goodbye, he grinned at his friend and eyed the bag he was holding where his costume was “Don’t forget about the plan Shin-chan!”   
  
Shinichi waved him off “Yeah yeah, we’ll prank my friend”   
  
Kaito brightened at him and held his mother’s hand just as they were about to part ways “I’ll see you at the party Shin-chan!”   
  
Shinichi waved at him “Bye Kaito”   
  
His friend shook his head at that “Not goodbye Shinichi! Just see you later!!” Kaito grinned “See you later Shin-chan!!”   
  
Shinichi chuckled “Yeah! I’ll see you later!!” He echoed. Yukiko looked down at him with a bright smile, he raised his eyebrows at her “What?”   
  
“Kaito-kun is a good friend nee?” He frowned at her, why was she asking him that? He smiled to himself despite it.   
  
“Mm…he is” They walked down the street in complete but comfortable silence.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
The days almost went by too fast for Shinichi, in retrospect two days seemed pretty long when you broke the time down to hours then minutes then seconds so Shinichi found solace in that knowledge, but then those seconds just kept running without his notice and then everything just went downhill from there. The time he came home to find his father setting up tiki torches was when the horrible truth of time hit him in the guts. Halloween was here.  
   
Ran was a giddy mess during the course of Shinichi’s countdown to his doom, she kept excitedly telling him about hoping to fill her bag full of candy and wondering what the inside of his house looked like with all of the scary decorations they’ve put up.   
  
She teased him once saying that his house had already looked scary but now she could really say that he lived in a haunted mansion, or at least something that looked like it.   
  
Some of his classmates had apparently gotten wind that his parents were throwing a Halloween party, they were disappointed at him for not inviting them while some even asked if they could just swing by anyway. Shinichi of course deflected all of these, he didn’t want to add more people to the list of those who are going to come over and swamp his house.   
  
Ran of course had once asked him if ‘Kaito-kun’ was coming and that she was excited to meet him too, Shinichi didn’t say anything since Kaito did have plans for their meet up, so he easily dodged most of her questions. When asked what he was going to dress up as he didn’t say either, it might be a crucial part of the Halloween prank Kaito wanted to pull.   
  
Ran was annoyed as expected but when he told her that it was a surprise her smile returned and she went back to talking about other things with him.   
  
Sonoko was also apparently hosting a Halloween party with her parents and had wanted Ran to come along, when she heard that Shinichi had already asked her to come to his party she got furious and glared at the young Kudo whenever she saw him, angrily muttering that he stole her best friend. Shinichi tried to calm her down but Sonoko refused to acknowledge him.   
  
She eventually relented when Ran told her that next year’s Halloween she would attend the Suzuki family’s party, Sonoko made her pinky swear to that and was satisfied when she did.   
  
At the end of school, Shinichi was dragging his feet while Ran had a happy skip in her step beside him “Come on Shinichi! It’s a party! You should be excited!” She said with a smile, he tried to smile back and match her enthusiasm but found the same result of his dread, hopefully she hadn’t noticed.   
  
Ran went ahead of him, saying that she still had to get ready with her costume, Shinichi waved her goodbye and walked to his house alone, it wasn’t hard to find these days.   
  
Just take a left and stare in shaking fear at the house eerily lighted and surrounded by tiki torches with fake blood, spider webs and entrails sliding down its many flat surfaces, oh and don’t forget to scream at the graveyard at its front with corpses crawling out from the ground, waiting to latch on to the legs of unsuspecting guests that wander too close.   
  
Shinichi wondered if their next door neighbor Professor Agasa had anything to do with that one, he was always tinkering with one thing or another so he wouldn’t be surprised if his father asked the inventor to help him with the decorations to add a little bit of pizzaz to it.   
  
Shinichi sighed to himself and opened the gates to his house, ignoring the shrunken head that was hung on it. He could hear the sounds of eerie music playing from inside the mansion, a music box song it seemed coupled with echoing screams, he shivered when he entered his house, his mother had probably turned the AC up a little to give it some effect.   
  
He spotted his father in a corner, hastily covering up something with handfuls of what looked to be bloody hay “Oh Shinichi! Welcome home” Yusaku greeted with a smile as his son came over to inspect what he was doing.   
  
“What’s that you’re hiding tou-san?” He winced when a particularly loud scream echoed from somewhere in the house followed by his mother’s voice apologizing for turning the speakers up too much.  
  
“That’s fine dear! Just keep it at a minimum! This is just a test run remember?” Yusaku called out to her then went back to his own preparations. “This is a fog machine Shinichi” He pressed a button on the remote in his hand and a white fog escaped the hay, slowly snaking its way to the ground like crawling tendrils , Shinichi stomped a foot to the ground and watched as it parted then swallow up his shoe again “We’ll have this on so that the guests won’t see the trip wires for some of my traps”   
  
Shinichi made a note to get to his room as quickly as he can before his father had the chance to shroud the house in a fog “The party should start in a few hours, I suggest you get up to your mother and get ready with your costume, she said something about putting make up on you and knowing her it might take a while. It’s better to start up now Shinichi” He was already walking away from his dad and heading up to the stairs, diligently skipping the steps he knew his father had booby trapped before.   
  
He found his mother tapping at the speakers they set up “Kaa-san, I’m going to change now”   
  
Yukiko hummed at him “Alright sweetie! Just remember to take a shower too!” As if he wanted to walk around all sticky under his costume, Shinichi didn’t need her to tell him that.   
  
  


* * *

  
  
When he found himself sinking under the water in the bath tub he admitted that he was stalling for time. In the bathroom there were no clocks so he could pretend that he was stuck in time and that he didn’t have to prance around in costume and that strangers in disguise weren’t going to mob his house.   
  
He let a few bubbles escape his mouth, he didn’t even get up when he felt that he had to take in a big gulp of air, he stayed a little longer under the water before breaking the surface and gasping loudly, he grumbled unhappily and sunk down again, the water barely touching his nose. A knock on the bathroom door alerted him but he refused to leave the safety of the timeless bath tub so he only surfaced his mouth to speak “Yeah?”   
  
“Shin-chan you’ve been in there for too long!” His mother’s voice drifted through the door “Hurry up now! Chikage-san just called me to say that Kaito-kun and her are close! They’ll be our first guests so all of us will have to greet them at the door!” Shinichi let out a sigh underwater but he never was one to keep his mother waiting, so he unplugged the bath tub and gave himself one last good scrub down before stepping out and taking a towel, he was greeted by his mother at the door and she immediately ushered him into his room with the bag that had his costume and what looked to be a makeup kit…oh boy….  
  
Kaito found him fighting his mother when she insisted that he should wear eyeliner for some kind of effect or another, he was swatting her hands away and grumpily stating that he didn’t want mystery makeup on his eyes and that he was afraid she might blind him, Yukiko huffed and told him to stop being so fussy.   
  
That was when Kaito stepped in “Let her do it Shin-chan, moms are great at makeup” Shinichi startled at his voice and darted wide eyes to the side, momentarily afraid that someone walked in on his mom putting makeup on him, he visibly relaxed when he saw his friend leaning on the doorframe, watching the scene in front of him with an amused smirk. He wore a green suit jacket that had golden designs swirling in different directions and a matching top hat accompanied by a vest underneath and white slacks, he carried what looked to be a golden cane with the letters ‘OZ’ carved into it in a whimsical like font, a giant green emerald resting at the top as the hand hold.   
  
Shinichi had spotted the cape as well, golden, he snorted at the sight “You’re gonna trip” He commented and Yukiko took that chance to grab his chin and apply more make up “Kaa-san!” He yelped. Kaito laughed from the doorframe, he glared at him “You’re not the one with make up on his face!!”   
  
Kaito grinned at that and slowly took off his top hat “If you didn’t notice Shin-chan, I _do_ have makeup on my face” He stepped into the light and Shinichi felt his mouth hang open, that was Kaito alright….but he looked even more like him now, it was like staring at an actual mirror, even his mother looked surprised and looked between the two of them.   
  
“Wha…?” He managed.   
  
Kaito’s grin appeared on his face and it was weird to see that expression on himself “I told you didn’t I? We’re gonna let Ran-chan meet me like this! I asked my mom to help me look more like you” Shinichi opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, trying to find the right words to say in this situation, he found himself at a loss.   
  
If his five year old self was faced with _this_ Kaito when he was already so freaked out by their first meeting, then that Shinichi would have died of a heart attack by now “Y…you…don’t sound..like….me…”  
  
 Kaito chuckled darkly and put a hand to his throat, he cleared it a few times and began speaking “You don’t sound like me, you don’t sound like me, y-you don’t sound like…me” Shinichi gaped as Kaito’s voice reached a new tone every time he spoke until..  “Y…you…don’t sound..like….me…”  It was still a little rough and far from perfect but with the help of the party sounds and all the distractions that came with it, no one would really notice if they didn’t listen close enough, his friend had mimicked his voice.   
  
Kaito grinned at his expression “You like it? I’ve been practicing all month ever since you told me about the party” The echo of his voice that spoke to him made Shinichi grasp at his own throat like he was trying to stop himself from talking.   
  
“A..ah…could you not do that while I’m around?”   
  
Kaito frowned at him but smiled softly and nodded “Yeah yeah, sorry did I freak you out?” He sighed in relief when his friend responded with his own voice.   
  
Yukiko snapped out of her daze “Wow! Kaito-kun I never knew you had such talent!” She moved from her son to the other boy in the room “And so dashing in your costume!” She gushed.   
  
Kaito blushed at her and rubbed the back of his neck “Eh…thank you Yukiko-obasan…mom taught me the voice thing..”   
  
She smiled brightly at him and moved him to sit on a nearby chair “I never knew Chikage could teach you such things….” She had a contemplative lilt in her voice but she quickly drew it back to finish up her son’s makeup, much to Shinichi’s annoyance “Oh well! This won’t take long Kaito-kun, I just need to finish up Shin-chan’s eyes and the two of you can go play when I’m done….or scheme if that’s what you’re about to do”   
  
She held her son’s chin and chided him when he moved around again, once she added what she deemed was the final touch she sighed happily and looked him over, adjusting his costume when she felt it looked crooked “There now! Aren’t you a good looking shinigami-san?” She had made his face look like a skull or at least have a shadow of what appeared to be a skull, Shinichi winced when he blinked or moved his mouth to speak, his face felt heavy and he didn’t like it one bit.   
  
He must’ve made a face because his mother clucked her tongue at him and pulled his hood over his head “Don’t be like that Shin-chan, you look wonderful! This is only for the party after all” He hopped down the bed and motioned for Kaito to follow him, grabbing the plastic scythe that his mother had assembled and leaned against the wall, the pint sized magician jumped off his chair and merrily skipped beside him.   
  
“I know kaa-san” Shinichi called behind him just as he and his friend went out the door, Yukiko sighed to herself and prepared her own costume.  
  
Once they were alone in the hallways, Shinichi turned to his friend “So? How are we supposed to trick Ran?”   
  
Kaito’s mischievous grin returned with a vengeance and he twirled his cane around in response “Well….” Somewhere in the house a few quick minutes later, Yusaku heard Shinichi shout in protest.  
  
  


* * *

  
  
When the sky grew dark and the moon was out shining in full, the only house that was planning to be active for most of the starless night was the Kudo mansion that now shadowed itself over, giving the house an even eerier atmosphere.   
  
If neighbors looked out their windows they would find a mob of ghouls, witches, monsters and many more things in between waiting to enter the ghastly mansion, some of these guests would shriek in surprise at the mechanical graveyard that snatched at your feet, their screams echoed through the night and everyone attending would follow with laughter.   
  
Yusaku and Yukiko stood at the entrance of the mansion, greeting guests and thanking them for coming, there was a number of people who could fill up the whole house in just a short amount of time.   
  
Yukiko had earlier berated her husband for not going with her costume plans, she had dressed up as Frankenstein’s monster’s wife and was expecting him to dress up as Frankenstein’s monster, instead the novelist dressed up as Dracula and accused her for switching plans the last minute, there was nothing they could do about it really “Aha~ I see you couldn’t coordinate well enough with your husband Yukiko”   
  
Ran tugged at her mom’s dress and frowned “Kaa-san!” She protested.   
  
Yukiko smiled at the new guests entering: The Mouri family. Eri had apparently decided to make her whole family wear one theme, the woman herself had dressed in a thin elegant gown, white with splashes of gold that had swirling vines of silver decorated with flowers of different kinds crawling from her waist down to the edges of her dress, Kogoro had dressed similarly to match his wife, his own costume having as much regal air as Eri’s although he didn’t seem too happy wearing it, Ran’s dress however was simple but it had a resemblance to that of her parents, although she had cute little transparent wings which her parents didn’t have.   
  
Yukiko sighed inwardly, at least they had the chance to match a theme: Eri as Titania, Kogoro as Oberon and Ran as a fairy princess “Hello Eri, Kogoro! Welcome to the party” She greeted her friend and her husband and smiled at their daughter “Hello to you too Ran-chan, what a very pretty dress”   
  
The child giggled and swayed her dress a little, it looked to be a dress made up of various plants and flowers and a vine of roses sneaked its way up her hair to form some sort of crown around her head “Thank you” She shyly muttered.   
  
“I don’t understand why you had to drag me into this party” Kogoro scratched at his arm when he felt an itch as his costume moved with him as his wife all ushered them in after greeting the Kudo parents back “What if there was an emergency back at the station? They might need me for something”   
  
Eri shook her head at him and latched onto his arm “Oh don’t make a fuss! I personally asked them to give you this day off, there’s no use in working around the clock you know” She gave him a knowing look.   
  
Kogoro laughed nervously at it “What?”  
  
“Don’t think I don’t know that you would have gone out to go gambling if I hadn’t dragged you to this party” She then turned a bright smile towards their daughter who was looking around the house with hesitance “Plus this is for our daughter, Ran was so excited to attend in her costume, weren’t you sweetie?”   
  
Ran spotted something on the floor and immediately jumped out of the way “KAA-SAN! TOU-SAN WAIT!!” Kogoro looked back at his daughter in confusion and didn’t notice the trip wire until he activated the trap.   
  
Fake blood rained on the both of them before insects of every kind dropped and stuck to the places where the blood had hit, Eri shrieked and began to furiously swat the bugs off her while Kogoro yelled in surprise and shook the bugs off his bug “What the-?!”   
  
“KOGORO HELP ME!” Eri shouted at him and her husband wasted no time in getting the bugs off his wife, when he picked off a spider from her hair he noticed that all of them were plastic. The guests around them cheered happily while some laughed.   
  
Yusaku waved from the entrance “THE FIRST TRAP HAS BEEN ACTIVATED! Tread carefully dear guests!!”   
  
They cheered at that though some had taken to waving away the fog in fear of trip wires. Ran had screamed when the fake blood hit her parents but when her father said that it was all fake she laughed a little when her mother started to try and get the fake blood off and ended up spattering more on her father “Don’t worry, that stuff will disappear from your clothes when it dries, it’s like you were never hit by it at all”   
  
Ran gasped and turned around at the sound of the voice, she was mildly surprised to find Shinichi smiling there dressed up as….she didn’t really know what he dressed up as but he looked- “Wow” She managed.  
  
 Shinichi chuckled and once again he surprised her by taking her hand and pressing a kiss to her knuckles “Hello there pretty fairy princess~” His tone was teasing, Ran huffed at him and drew her hand back, although she went a little red in the face, she was grateful for the dim lighting.   
  
“So? Are you gonna tell me that ‘A girl like me’ looks funny wearing all of this?” A red rose appeared in front of her face and she stared at it in bewilderment.   
  
“You don’t look funny” She blushed and took the rose hesitantly.   
  
“Shi-“ Before she knew it her friend turned and ran off to another direction, she tried to grab for his cape but he was too fast.   
  
She blinked in confusion then turned back to her parents who were still trying to get plastic bugs off their person “They _did_ say that we have to be prepared for things like this” Kogoro chuckled nervously as his wife sent him a glare, having her covered in fake blood didn’t help. He turned to his daughter who had luckily been spared their fate “Eh, Ran, why don’t you go ahead and find your friend? That Kudo boy yeah? I’ll be helping your mother clean up, we’ll meet at the library if ever, you know where that is right?”   
  
Ran nodded and he smiled at her, pressing a kiss to her forehead, she winced and rubbed the red liquid off “Tou-saaan!”   
  
Kogoro chuckled and tucked a piece of stray hair out of her face “Be good Ran, we’ll be right back” Ran watched her parents go off to find a bathroom somewhere, she sighed and looked down at the rose she was given, she twirled it around and wondered what Shinichi was playing at.   
  
The rest of the party went like this: After Eri and Kogoro set off the first trap, people became hyperaware of their surroundings and had taking to tip toeing at some point, if only they had known that trap activations didn’t limit itself to trip wires.   
  
Someone had pushed too hard at a wall and ended up activating a trap that made a ghostly figure pick him up and sway him in the air, the person had yelled in surprise and then fear when he looked up and saw what exactly was holding him up, it took several other guests to get the man down but no harm was done, he in fact seemed to find it funny when he got back down, well he laughed a little too hysterically but that particular guest ended up purposely tripping traps for fun to see what surprise they held.   
  
There were a few kids who attended with their parents but unlike the adults they didn’t like wandering around and setting off traps, most of them had huddled in the living room to watch some horror movies, tell scary stories and stuff their face full of candy, everyone agreed that the living room had become the kids’ hideaway when their parents left them alone.   
  
Ran herself had found her way into that very room and was hoping to find Shinichi in the crowd of kids, she saw someone that looked like him but he was dressed up as a grim reaper, although she was a little confused when that boy spotted her and immediately ran away.   
  
While she was wandering she crossed the library and saw several people gathered around a girl who set off a trap and was now just sitting calmly inside an iron maiden, though the fake blood that seeped out scared her friends she thought it was funny and leaned against the rubber spikes, Ran didn’t give them much mind and focused on finding her friend.   
  
She found Shinichi looking out a window, she called him but he only turned around once, blew her a kiss and suddenly- she swore this really happened!- disappeared in a fog, again she was left alone, confused and red in the face. Why was Shinichi acting so weird?   
  
That was how she found herself chasing the boy all around the house, one minute he’s close enough to touch, the next he was gone. Over and over, Shinichi always did some weird gesture she couldn’t understand why but it was starting to fluster her, once he even left a flower ring for her and she didn’t know what to do with it. Finally after running down the stairs to get him she caught hold of his cape and pulled him backwards, satisfied when she heard him yelp “What are you doing Shinichi?!”   
  
“I’m not doing anything??” She startled and looked up at the same boy she saw in the living room from earlier.   
  
He had his hood down this time and he was looking at her in confusion “Eh?” She looked down at the boy she still hadn’t let go of then back at the grim reaper dressed one “Ah…Shinichi??”   
  
The grim reaper- Shinichi- scoffed at her and smiled in amusement “Who else? I’ve been looking for you since a while ago but…apparently you’ve been going around chasing other guys”   
  
She blushed and let the other boy go “Ah! I-I’m sorry! I thought you…were…” She blinked when the other boy went to stand next to Shinichi, grinning happily and slinging an arm over her friend’s shoulders. She looked at the boy, then at Shinichi, then back at the boy, they looked _too similar_.   
  
At her suspicious gaze Shinichi sighed “Ran, this is Kaito Kuroba, Kaito, that’s Ran Mouri”   
  
She gasped again, covering her mouth with one hand and pointing the other at Kaito “Y..You’re..!”   
  
Kaito laughed and flicked his wrist, she stared in awe as a white rose appeared out of nowhere “Hello Mouri-san! I’m sorry for the little play I had you participate in, Shinichi and I wanted our meeting to be a surprise” He offered her the rose which she wordlessly accepted, still staring at him “It’s very nice to meet Shin-chan’s long time friend”   
  
She giggled at the nickname he gave Shinichi while her friend groaned into his hands “You promised me that you wouldn’t call me that in front of her!”  
  
“She doesn’t call you that??” Ran laughed and the two boys turned their attention towards her, she smiled brightly at Kaito and held out her hand which he surprisingly didn’t shake but press a kiss to, she blushed again but she wasn’t all that bothered.   
  
“No, I don’t call Shinichi that but I’m tempted to” She grinned at her friend’s flustered face before turning back to address the other boy “And it’s also very nice to finally meet you Kuroba-kun”   
  
“Kaito’s fine Mouri-san”  
  
“Then you can call me Ran” Kaito and her mirrored their smiles and when Ran began to share some childhood stories with Kaito, who in turn told her of their misadventures, Shinichi was sure that somewhere in the future he would somewhat regret ever introducing them to each other.   
  
Ran had immediately taken a shine to Kaito when he revealed that he was a magician in training, he happily performed various tricks for her and she was amazed at every single one, Shinichi would still comment on how the trick was done and Ran would berate him for being a bummer.   
  
Kaito would laugh and say that he didn’t mind since Shinichi was his personal trainer, _that_ was something else Ran was happy to hear about and began to ask Shinichi when he started getting interested in magic, Shinichi could only sputter and avoid her questions.   
  
It wasn’t hard to see that they were quickly becoming a happy trio with Ran at the helm, she had taken to dragging them both around the mansion to participate in some events that Shinichi’s parents had prepared for the children, one being a candy hunt that both Ran and Kaito were eager to dominate “Kaito-kun look!! I think I see some near the window!”   
  
“Really?! Race you! First one gets all the candy!!”  
  
“You’re on Kuroba!” Shinichi watched as both of them sped towards the window where Ran had apparently seen a stack of candy, he found it weird that Ran was so excitable, he blamed it on the candy, then again she and Kaito got along really well, he supposed it was because she found a new friend.   
  
Still, it didn’t help that he was stuck with two sugar high kids, he felt like he was the only mature one in the group, which was a total lie- according to Kaito- when he practically wrestled them both for a piece of lemon candy hidden inside a vase “I called dibs!!” He protested as Ran teased him along with Kaito “It’s not fair you know” He grumbled as they searched the hallways for more candy with some other kids around them“Both of you keep teaming up on me”   
  
Ran giggled and Kaito scoffed “Shin-chan, we’re like three in a group, if either of us chose a side it would hurt someone’s feelings. You only think we’re teaming up against you cause everyone’s an enemy in your eyes” Ran smiled at Kaito and Shinichi had a sinking feeling in his gut that Kaito understood whatever it was his friend was planning without her saying anything, since when were these two able to do that?   
  
“Kaito-kun~” She sang and approached Shinichi who backed up.   
  
“Yes Ran-chan~?” Kaito copied her tone and it only made Shinichi swallow in fear.   
  
“I think Shinichi’s starting to feel that we don’t like him anymore”   
  
“Oh? What do we do about that??” They smirked at him “Let’s give him one biiiiig love hug!” Between Ran and Kaito hugging him, he was sure that he was going to suffocate; the two of them advancing towards him menacingly only fueled his desire to start running.   
  
Shinichi made sure to pick up his cloak when he began to run so that he wouldn’t trip, he could clearly hear Ran and Kaito giving chase behind him, running through the dark halls only contributed to his feeling of getting chased down “THIS IS WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT YOU JERKS!” Laughter trailed after his accusation.   
  
The three kids spent a lot of their time chasing each other around the mansion, Shinichi had set off quite a lot of traps with Ran and Kaito, all of them went running around trailing bloody or green goopy footprints everywhere, some guests had even thought it was part of the entertainment.   
  
Shinichi was starting to get tired and slowing down was his biggest mistake, Kaito had leapt towards him and made them both tumble into the ground, Ran followed soon after and crushed them both in the dog pile “Gotcha!!” They both exclaimed and wrapped their arms around their mutual friend, squeezing as tight as they could.   
  
They couldn’t really get a good hold since all of them were covered in miscellaneous liquids so they had kept slipping, but between Shinichi’s protests and the two other kids’ laughter, it was obvious that they still had a lot of fun. Shinichi even ended up accidentally hugging them close to keep them from falling when the two of them almost slipped and hit their heads, he laughed at their clumsiness and they smiled wide at him.   
  
They took a break in the living room and Shinichi played around with the fog machine stationed there when he managed to snatch a remote away from his father, Kaito was the one to bring them all juice boxes while Ran managed to hide herself in the thick fog that Shinichi created, sometimes poking a hand out to surprise her two friends “Shin-chan I want a turn!”   
  
Shinichi kept Kaito away with one foot while stretching the fog machine remote from his reach “You’re gonna make my whole house disappear! I can’t even find Ran anymore!”   
  
He heard her giggle somewhere in the fog they created but he wasn’t exactly sure if she was even there “Relax! Ran-chan’s fine, nee Ran-chan?”   
  
“I think my costume’s getting a little wet” Came Ran’s reply and Shinichi yelped when her face suddenly popped out in front of him, she giggled at him “Worried about me Shinichi?” She teased.  
  
Shinichi huffed at her “Who would be worried about you jerk girl”   
  
She smiled and surged forward to tackle hug him “Shinichi’s a softie!!”   
  
“Shut up Ran!” Kaito watched the two of them in amusement, he smiled when Ran began to tease Shinichi and his telltale blush began to spread on his face, she laughed at that. Kaito had to admit that he really liked Ran, she was a nice girl and they could get along fine, but still….he couldn’t help the tiny bit of jealousy when Shinichi and her interacted, showcasing the years of friendship they had with how close they are.   
  
He chuckled at himself, Shinichi wasn’t just going to limit his friendship with him, of course he knew that, but…well….he was jealous that Ran had some sort of special place when it came to friendship with Shinichi. Could you blame him? He barely liked to share, most six year olds didn’t “Nee Kaito”   
  
He startled when she appeared beside him, wow she was quiet “Oh! Ran-chan you scared me! Don’t tell me you can teleport now, I’m supposed to be the magic one”   
  
Ran giggled at him and he couldn’t help but smile back, she was just that kind of girl “I was just…you were making a weird face, Shinichi makes that same face sometimes when he gets sad…well right now you kinda look like Shinichi so I assumed…Are you okay?” His smile turned soft, it wasn’t hard to see that Ran was a sweet girl who worried over others.   
  
Shinichi was lucky to have met her and became her friend “Yeah, I’m just a bit tired, don’t worry”  
  
“I thought I’d never hear you say that tonight”   
  
Kaito smirked at Shinichi’s teasing tone “Thank you for thinking so highly of me Shin-chan, but I’m only human” Shinichi stuck his tongue out at him and he did the same.   
  
Ran smiled at them both “Now now boys, you’re both pretty, no need to fight” She pulled both of them in an armed hug.   
  
“What? No way, I’m _way_ prettier than Shin-chan” Kaito protested with a pout.  
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes at him “We have the same face genius”  
  
“Yeah but mine is prettier” Ran laughed.   
  
The three of them spent the rest of the party in each other’s company, Ran had them participate in a screaming contest at one point and it ended with all of them getting sore throats and playing charades together to communicate.   
  
Of course none of them understood what they were saying but they pretended to anyway, in fact it made them feel like spies and wasn’t that fun?   
  
So even when their throats stopped hurting, they still used their hands to signal each other with movements only they themselves could understand and the others to pretend to understand, it was all in good fun so a bit of miscommunication didn’t hurt at all.   
  
Late into the night when the party was growing dim and most of the food and guests started to disappear found the three children huddled up in a bunch together and watching a horror movie with wide eyes. Kaito and Shinichi already had experience watching together so they knew when the other wanted to have his eyes covered, Ran on the other hand just took to sitting in the middle and hiding behind their arms when she was scared. That was how the adults found them.   
  
Eri had blinked in surprise when she saw two Shinichis on the couch with her daughter, Kogoro thought he drank too much and was seeing double “…You didn’t tell me Shinichi had a twin” She muttered towards Yukiko who was beaming at the sight of the three children.   
  
“Oh no, the other one is Kaito-kun, he’s my friend’s son. They just happened to look like each other”   
  
Eri hummed in acknowledgement and went over to tap her daughter’s shoulder, Ran jumped in surprise but calmed down when she saw her mother “Are you ready to go Ran?”   
  
Her daughter looked between the two boys, a little sad to be leaving her friends so soon “…I guess”   
  
Kaito clapped her shoulder and offered her a smile “Hey no worries Ran-chan! We can all play again sometime right Shin-chan?”   
  
Shinichi glared at him for using the nickname in front of other people but shrugged in response “When we can, if you ever find the time Ran?”   
  
Ran brightened at that and hugged the both of them “It’s a promise then!” She hopped off the couch and went around to hold her mother’s hand, Kogoro went off to thank Yusaku and Yukiko for inviting them. Ran waved back at the two boys as she left “Bye Shinichi! Bye Kaito!!”  
  
“See you at school Ran!”  
  
“Till next time Ran-chan!!” The two boys waved back as she left.   
  
Shinichi slumped back on the couch and turned to his friend “What do you think of her?”   
  
Kaito looked at him for a moment then grinned “I think you’re lucky” Shinichi shoved him and Kaito hugged him when he was close “Next time I’ll bring Aoko! It’s gonna be great! We’ll all be like twins!”  
  
 Kaito’s excited tone seemed to melt into Shinichi since the other boy began to look forward to meeting Kaito’s friend, who apparently was also Ran’s look alike. They went back to watching the movie not long after.   
  
The party was officially coming to a close and the last guest was out the door, bidding the Kudo family a goodnight. Chikage and Kaito stayed around to help with the clean up but as soon as Kaito and Shinichi began to yawn, the adults decided that they should call it a night and continue cleaning tomorrow “The party was wonderful you two, I’m very glad you invited us”   
  
Chikage was carrying a sleepy Kaito in her arms as she stood by the entrance to take her leave “You’re welcome Chikage, next time though, Toichi should come along” Yukiko also carried her own sleepy son in her arms, though unlike Kaito who fought to open his eyes, Shinichi was already asleep.   
  
“I’ll drive you to Ekoda Chikage” Yusaku came out the door, having shed most of the layers of his costume.  
  
Chikage smiled thankfully at him “Thank you Yusaku, I hope you don’t mind”  
  
“Not at all” Yusaku kissed his wife on the cheek before accompanying their friend out “I’ll see you later Yukiko” He called over his shoulder as Yukiko waved them both off.   
  
“Alright! Take care you two!” She watched the car drive away from the mansion, leaving her alone in the now empty and quiet house with her son.   
  
It was strange to walk through the home when it was once so full of life and now devoid of it. Part of her missed all the noise even when she was tired and would love nothing more than to lay down, she missed the sounds of the children pattering around her house in particular. Yukiko smiled down at Shinichi as she made her way to his bedroom, she chuckled softly at the memory of the three children playing together during the party, she adjusted her hold on her son nuzzled his hair “Looks like you’ll do fine” She mumbled into her son’s hair and kissed his forehead, quietly shutting his bedroom door behind them.                             

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say really. Well the center was based on the one I've been to when I was in Kobe with my relatives, lovely place really.
> 
> See you next time!
> 
> Adieu~


	7. Fathers of a feather

It didn’t surprise the Kudo parents when they woke up the next day to find their son huddled up between them, Shinichi _had_ watched a horror movie during the party so it was only a matter of time before their son got spooked at some late hour at night and decide to come invade their bed.  
  
Yukiko was all too happy to cuddle her little boy, she loved these kinds of moments where her baby would come to her for protection, it made her feel very important as a mother and a big part of Shinichi’s life. She felt Yusaku leave the bed and press a kiss on both of them before he went for his morning shower, she hummed happily and pulled her son closer, she’ll get up later when Yusaku was finished, he understood how much she loved to spend time with their baby.  
  
It was almost too fast when her husband came back and shook her shoulder, Yukiko hated that part about sleeping, it was like you time travelled, she exhaled deeply and turned to sleepily peer up at her husband “Morning”

He greeted her with a kiss, she smiled into it “Morning”  
  
Yukiko was very fond of mornings too, that time of the day when everyone didn’t have to put up appearances because their minds weren’t quite awake yet, that time where everything just felt…soft. She finally pulled herself out of bed just as Yusaku left the room, she looked down at her son and kissed his forehead “Shin-chan, time to wake up” She called softly.  
  
Shinichi frowned in his sleep and buried himself further into the duvet, she chuckled at the sight and got out to take a shower. Her son can wake up on his own time.  
  
It was quite a while before Shinichi actually woke up but he hadn’t missed the morning, his parents had greeted him when he came down the stairs to find them eating breakfast. His plate was set up and his mother was just waiting for him to take a seat.  
  
They didn’t speak much but that was understandable, yesterday was tiring, they still had to clean up and it was Sunday, you couldn’t help but feel a little bit lazy, especially on a nice cloudy and cold day. The Kudo parents were the first to finish eating and start cleaning up, Shinichi was allowed to sit back for a while since they had cleaned a significant amount of the mess from yesterday.  
  
Yukiko still complained that Yusaku’s traps left too much of a mess, she asked him if it was really necessary to go so overboard with all of them, he replied by saying that they were all a success and the guests loved it, they would remember the party for quite a long time.  
  
Yukiko supposed that it was a good thing but she still didn’t appreciate the mess it all made. Yusaku was tasked with cleaning them up since he was the one who made them in the first place. It ended with Yusaku getting caught in a trap that wasn’t activated during the party, he was still a little too foggy in the head to remember where he set up all the traps, Yukiko and Shinichi had to work together to get him out of it.  
  
The phone ringing got all of their attentions but Yusaku was still caught in a sticky mess and Yukiko wasn’t about to let go of her hand hold and possibly lose her husband to the goop that was slowly eating him up “A-Ah, Shin-chan c-could you- Yusaku stop! You’re making it worse!- answer that please??”    
  
Shinichi gave his father one apologetic look then he sprinted away to get to the phone before it stopped ringing “Hello?” He breathed, a little out of breath.  
  
There was a sleepy sounding chuckle from the other side “Hey Shin-chan” Then a yawn. Shinichi leaned against the wall with the phone pressed to his ear as he tried to catch his breath “Did you run from your bedroom?” He was a little caught off guard when Kaito’s voice sounded tired, that wasn’t usually how all their phone calls went, usually _he_ was the tired one.  
  
“Why do you sound like you’re dying?” Shinichi asked.  
  
“I think I-“ Another yawn “-am” Kaito sighed into the phone “We really shouldn’t have watched that movie last night” Shinichi made a sympathetic sound “You didn’t get to sleep well?”  
  
“Ran-chan couldn’t either”  
  
“Hah? How do you know?”  
  
“She called me first” Oh that’s right.

Shinichi could remember them exchanging house phone numbers to keep in touch during the party, still it was strange….”Why did she call you?”  
  
Kaito chuckled from the other side “What? Jealous she didn’t call you first?” Before Shinichi could retort to that Kaito continued “Relax Shin-chan, I’m not gonna steal your best friend. She called me first because she knew you’d still be sleeping, both of us agreed on that….say, you never told me that you tried to marry a book-“  
  
“What did you two talk about?!”  
  
“You, don’t worry, all good things” Shinichi groaned into the phone, of course those two would start gossiping about him when his back was turned, he heard Kaito’s laughter and noticed that it didn’t sound as tired anymore, seems like he was waking up “Hey, I was wondering if the two of you would like to come watch my dad’s shows sometime”  
  
“If this is what I think you’re suggesting-“  
  
“Nooo, Shin-chan it’ll all be legal this time, we’ll get tickets and everything!” Unknown to Shinichi, Kaito never even thought about using his secret watching area, he always felt that that particular spot was a really precious secret that only he knew about, now that Shinichi knew about it too it was something that only the two of them should keep to themselves. He rather liked the thought of sharing something with his friend.  
  
“I guess but I dunno about Ran” Came Shinichi’s voice after a beat. Kaito grinned.  
  
“Eh that’s fine, tou-san has a lot of shows, we could pick one some other time but it’s just an invite if you wanna meet up together again. I could introduce Aoko too, it’s important y’know?, our friends should be friends so we can be good friends”  
  
“We’ll see what happens” Their conversation quickly turned to other topics, they chatted about mostly nothing and everything, just keeping each other talking for as long as they can. Shinichi had a feeling that Kaito was shirking off responsibilities at the moment but wasn’t he doing that too?  
  
He idly wondered if his father finally got out of the goop trap or if both his parents had now been swallowed whole, the thought concerned him but it was hard to concentrate on that when Kaito was telling him about his crazy dream of eating the entire universe.  
  
It was only his mother frantically calling him over that snapped him out of his phone conversation daze, apparently his father had gotten himself even more stuck in the goop by flailing in a panic “H-Hey Kaito, I think I need to go, tou-san’s getting eaten by goop”  
  
“Eeh?! Wow, um, okay, tell me what happens. Later Shin-chan”  
  
“Later Kaito” He quickly hung up and ran to where he left his parents, he yelled in shock when he came across a scene of half his father’s face buried in the goop and his mother trying to beat him out of it with a broom, he ran for his father and desperately tried to claw him out.  
  
The whole Kudo family was left with goop stuck on different parts of their body when they finally got Yusaku free. The whole cleanup was basically getting the trash stuck on the goop that was stuck on them, Yusaku had given up trying and simply rolled himself on the floor to get done cleaning, Yukiko shouted at him for being such a pig.  
  
It wasn’t until they were done cleaning that someone else called the house, Yukiko answered and then called her son to hand the phone over, it didn’t take long for Shinichi to guess who it was when he heard the person thank his mother “Hi Ran” He greeted.  
  
“Hello Shinichi!” Ran’s happy chirp came from the other side. Apparently she had called to ask him if he was doing okay and if he got spooked from the movie they watched last night, of course he denied all of this but Ran could immediately tell he was lying “Don’t be like that Shinichi, everyone gets scared, it’s okay to admit it”  
  
“I didn’t admit anything idiot”  
  
“Liiiiar!” She drawled out the word and Shinichi could guess that she was either glaring at the phone or rolling her eyes “I saw you hiding behind Kaito-kun last night! You were scared you big baby!”  
  
“Ah?! Says you!! You screamed so loud I thought it was the speakers!!”  
  
He heard her sigh from the other side “Whatever you big fat liar, you were scared to bits and I saw it!”  
  
There was a lapse in their conversation then he heard her chuckle softly “Nee, about Kaito-kun…..I think he’s really nice, it was..ah..a little weird at first, cause he looked so much like you Shinichi” She paused “He wasn’t wearing a mask was he??”  
  
Shinichi laughed quietly and shook his head before he could remember that she couldn’t see him “No, a bit of makeup maybe but we _do_ look alike, there’s some differences but not if you don’t look close I guess” He heard her laugh a little then sigh.  
  
“I was honestly a bit scared, _two_ Shinichis?? I couldn’t handle one already”  
  
“Oi oi..” She laughed again but he smiled along with her “Oh yeah, Kaito called me, he was asking if we could all watch one of his dad’s magic shows”  
  
“Hn? His dad’s a professional magician??” He could hear the gears in her head click together so he stayed quiet until she figured it out herself, she gasped “EH?!”  
  
“I see you got-“  
  
“His last name is Kuroba right?!” There was an excited lilt in her voice and Shinichi automatically knew that he wouldn’t be able to get a word in when she was like this “So..! So that means….by any chance is his dad’s name….Toichi Kuroba??”

Shinichi chuckled “Yes, he-“  
  
“AH!”  
  
He winced and pulled the phone away from his ear, a little annoyed that Ran just kept cutting him off “Don’t shout into the phone crazy girl!!”  
  
“Shinichi why didn’t you tell me this sooner?!” Her voice held the edge of a whine but it was clear that she was still excited “I’ve heard of his dad before! I’ve been asking my mom and dad if we could go watch some of his shows but it’s always been sold out! Shinichiiiii! Your friend’s dad is a famous magician and you didn’t tell me??”  
  
Shinichi sighed, of course “I didn’t think it was important”  
  
She huffed but it sounded amused “Oh yeah I guess for you, all you ever talked about was Kaito-kun”  
  
He blushed at that and glared at the phone “What are you trying to say??”  
  
“Nooothing Shinichi” She giggled, but she thought it was cute that Shinichi didn’t care about such things when it came to making friends, he liked the person, not their titles and it was obvious to her that Kaito was becoming a really good friend. She first thought that Shinichi’s new friend might not really be as great as he made him sound but after meeting him, well, he was likeable and she thought he was nice. Now it was just a bonus that his dad was a famous magician, she gave him a lot of points already especially since Shinichi seemed to like him a lot too “So? What was that about Kaito-kun inviting us??”  
  
She could barely contain how giddy she felt at the prospect of coming to watch one of Toichi Kuroba’s magic shows, Kaito had amazed her with his own magic already, she was interested in seeing how his dad does his own acts “Yeah, uh, he said it was an invite but I think he’s just waiting for us to give our okays then we’ll pick a date”  
  
“Oh? I guess I’ll ask my parents about it!” She sighed “I hope they’ll say yes, I bet the show would be really amazing!”  
  
Shinichi smiled at that “It is”  
  
Ran made a confused sound from the phone “Hah? You’ve watched it before?!” Shinichi stiffened, oops, that wasn’t intended and he didn’t think he was ready to tell Ran that he trespassed on private property to watch a magic show, and that he was _willing.  
  
_ “Eh? Ah! Sorry Ran! Kaa-san is calling me, I need to help her clean up the house, you know, we still have some decorations lying around! YeahokayseeyouonMondayatclass _bye Ran!_ ” He hung up immediately despite her protests over the phone. He sighed and shook his head at himself “Jeez, I feel like a criminal” He muttered unhappily, that was a first. Ignoring his mother giggling in a corner, Shinichi rushed into the library, hoping that a good read would keep his mind off things.  


* * *

  
  
Meanwhile at the Kuroba residence, Kaito was staring out his window and absentmindedly ran a coin through his knuckles as he did so. Yesterday was a lot of fun, he had to admit, the party was good even if he thought that there were way too many adults being too loud, he got candy out of it so he let it slide for now.  
  
The coin tripped a little in his hands with the next thought: At least he got to spend a bit of time with Shinichi. It had worried him at first when his friend had revealed that he had no intention to attend his own party, which was a bit disheartening to hear, he was pretty excited to celebrate the weird day dressed up in costume with his friend. He was happy it ended up the way it did though, plus he got to meet the famous Ran Mouri he had heard so much about.  
  
It still spooked him a little that Ran was the splitting image of his friend Aoko, seriously, what were the odds? Him and Shin-chan looking the same and their respective friends Aoko and Ran being in a similar twin like situation? It was enough to make his head spin.  
  
Kaito would often say that lots of things happened for a reason, this- he supposed- is just one scary coincidence. Not that he minded.  
  
Going back to his previous thoughts he started to settle on his new found friend: Ran Mouri, she was a nice girl and he could definitely see them becoming friends as well- still scary that he’s friends with two girls who look alike- he liked her well enough and she seemed to reciprocate those feelings. He stopped playing with the coin and rested his cheek on his hand whilst watching the leaves outside flutter in the cold breeze.  
  
Sure, he liked her, she’s a good person…and also Shinichi’s best friend, someone who he held in a special place in his life. Kaito sulked a little at that thought, yeah, she was someone _extra_ important to the young Kudo. He growled at himself and shook his head, he shouldn’t be thinking like this, so what? Of course Ran-chan would be someone Shinichi held dear, they’ve been together since forever!  
  
They’ve had a whole lot of time to build their friendship, they live close to each other _and_ they attend the same school, seeing each other every day wasn’t a problem. He shouldn’t think that she was…a wedge in his friendship with Shinichi, if anything _he_ was the wedge for stealing her best friend’s attention away so often, he felt a little awful about that.  
  
The young magician sighed and hopped off his bed, his parents were probably downstairs by now and waiting for him to join them, they were planning on a little outing for some family time since his father had been away for a lot of shows the past few weeks.  
  
As he passed by his other window he noticed someone out on a balcony just idly staring at the sky, he grinned when he realized who it was and opened his window “You’re gonna catch a cold if you stand out there idiot”  
  
Aoko blinked in surprise and looked over to her next door neighbor, she rolled her eyes and huffed “I just came out! And I’m wearing a very warm jacket thank you”  
  
Kaito leaned over from his window, a smirk playing on his face “Yeah? Well I think I remember a certain someone catching a cold for being such an airhead and staying outside to stare at clouds”  
  
He laughed when he saw Aoko’s face redden and she glared at him “Shut up!!”  
  
“Shh! Aoko your loud voice is gonna scare my doves!” As if on cue, Nami swooped in and landed on Kaito’s windowsill, she cooed at him and turned a curious gaze over to the little girl on the balcony.  
  
The magician gently petted her head “What’s wrong Nami-chan? Did a loud mean girl scare you??”  
  
He snickered when Aoko’s glare intensified, she crossed her arms over her chest “You’re mean, you know that??”  
  
Kaito stuck his tongue out at her with a smile “Am not, you’re just sensitive” He flicked his wrist and Nami quickly flew over to where Aoko was, the little girl stepped back a little when the dove made to land on her balcony, she blinked when she realized that it was carrying a yellow rose with its feet, Nami gently placed the rose down and flew back over to Kaito who stretched out his arm for her to land on “Good morning Aoko~” He sang with a cheery grin.  
  
Aoko sighed but smiled to herself as she picked up the rose, it smelled really nice “Good morning BaKaito” Kaito laughed at the nickname she gave him, Aoko shook her head with a smile “If you’re done being an idiot I think I’d like to be left alone now, I want some quiet and there’s never any of that when you’re close”  
  
Kaito feigned hurt and clutched at his chest “You wound me! What a mean girl!!” He shot her a smile and waved at her as he slowly closed his windows “Just don’t be dumb and stay outside too long, it’s getting really cold” She waved him off and watched him back away from the window and disappear into his house. The little girl twirled the rose in her hands with a faint smile, what a silly boy. Aoko turned back to watch the sky.  
  
Kaito’s spirits were significantly lifted, it was always like that after he talked to a friend, he really did hope that Aoko wouldn’t stay outside for too long, silly girl wouldn’t even notice if she was starting to get sick, how was he supposed to play with her if she was bedridden?  
  
He sighed and prayed that she would actually listen to him this time, sure he liked to tease her at most times and she probably thought he was just a jokester but it wasn’t his fault, her reactions were just too good to pass up, it helped that she still liked him despite it all. That was a major factor in his friendship card.  
  
When he got down he was immediately greeted with the sight of his father resting on their sofa, Kaito frowned and remembered just how tired he would be after such a busy time, he knew he still had other shows to plan and he was starting to worry about his father, it was almost like he was always working around the clock, sometimes even coming back at odd hours.  
  
His mother seemed to share his sentiments about his father’s workload but she seemed to think that something else other than his shows were tiring him out.  
  
Once, he heard them talking in hushed tones, his mother said something about his ‘night time hobbies’. Kaito wasn’t really sure what it was but if it was just a hobby he hoped his father would take a break from it, he was already such a busy man, hobbies were nice but not if you can’t get enough sleep because of them.  
  
He quietly walked over to his father and sat on the couch beside him, he was staring at him in concern until Toichi noticed someone else in the room with him, the older Kuroba opened one eye to look down at his son, his smile was small but it was welcoming as it always was “Hello Kaito” He greeted, his voice cracking a little.  
  
Kaito pursed his lips “Tou-san, maybe….maybe you should stop doing magic for a while” Toichi frowned and opened his other eye to give his son a confused look, Kaito took it as him taking offense and shrunk into himself, he knew his father loved magic as much as he did, asking for him to stop was like telling the sun not to set but still, he didn’t want his father to overexert himself “I know you really really love your job tou-san but….kaa-san and I are…you’re always tired and..” He kept trailing off, unable to relay how concerned he was for his father’s health.  
  
Toichi chuckled silently and pulled his son into a one armed hug, Kaito gripped onto his shirt as if afraid that his father was about to collapse and that he was the only one to keep him steady “You have such a good heart Kaito, don’t ever change that” He tried to smile at his father but hearing him so tired…there wasn’t much to smile about. Toichi noticed the look on his son’s face, he winced inwardly, maybe he really had been pushing himself too much the past few days, he hated having to worry his family like this “Don’t worry too much about me Kaito, I promise I’ll take a break, there was just some important things I needed to handle. They’re all done now” He smiled back at his son who seemed to become happier with his sentence “Do you want me to teach you something new?”  
  
He was surprised when Kaito made a face at him, usually his son was so excited about learning a new trick “Tou-san..” He blinked at the warning tone in Kaito’s voice, there was a stern expression- yet somewhat pained one- on his son’s face “You promised you would take a break, no magic”  
  
Toichi chuckled but pretended to be downtrodden “But I love doing magic, this isn’t for a show Kaito, I have some leeway right?” He moved his hands and laughed when his son instantly jumped up to hold them down.  
  
“No!” Kaito chided. Toichi smirked and moved to snap his fingers, Kaito held them down too “Tou-san you’re being difficult!!”  
  
“Oh what’s this?” Toichi moved his arms back and a whole deck of cars began to spray from his sleeves.

Kaito gasped and desperately tried to shove them back in “Dad!!” He sounded exasperated now, Toichi popped a hat on his head into existence and snickered at the glare that was instantly sent his way, Kaito slapped the hat off his head “You’ll get tired!” Flowers came out from his collar, Kaito groaned “MOOOM! DAD’S DOING MAGIC!”  
  
Chikage popped up from a corner and looked over to the two of them in confusion, Kaito was stuffing flowers down her husband’s shirt while Toichi laughed “Hn? Doesn’t your father always do magic?”  
  
“Yeah but he’ll get tired! He’s _already_ tired!! He promised to take a break!” Kaito pointed at Toichi who was now grinning at him “You’re grounded! Mom tell him he’s grounded!!”  
  
Chikage giggled and walked over to the two “You heard him darling, you’re grounded”  
  
Toichi made a small whining sound from the back of his throat “Aw, that’s not fair, you ganged up on me”  
  
“It’s for your own good tou-san!” Kaito crossed his arms and dared him to defy what he said.  
  
Toichi smiled brightly and ruffled his son’s hair “Fine but only for the two of you”  
  
Kaito gasped when he realized that Toichi made a dove appear and sit on his head, he glared at his laughing father “DOUBLE GROUNDED!!” Chikage chuckled and Toichi apologized, gathering his son up in his arms in a passive hug, his wife soon joined them on the sofa and the family simply sat there and spent a little bit of time watching a few shows on the TV. Their outing wasn’t until later anyway.  


* * *

  
  
Back at the Kudo mansion, the Kudo parents were wrapping up cleaning time after the last of the high decorations were put away, the mansion slowly returned to its old self, somewhat at least since there were still some residue hinting that it had been hosting a party. The family couldn’t really get _everything_ off but it looked okay and no one would really notice the small things- like the fake blood and goop that stuck to the corners of the house and refused to be cleaned off- and they could always find another time to clean it off, so the Kudo family now rested in their living room, exhausted but feeling accomplished for restoring their house on their own.   
  
Everyone had already washed up of course and most of the goop that stuck to them from earlier had thankfully gone from their person, Yukiko had a bit of trouble getting it off her hair but she was glad that she didn’t have to cut it to get rid of the gunk.  
  
The phone rang again, the family wondered why so many people were calling their house all of a sudden, Yusaku sighed when he noticed no one wanted to stand and answer the phone, so he did instead “I’ll get it” He tiredly said and walked to the phone, he leaned against the desk it was on “Hello?” Yusaku answered.  
  
Shinichi idly turned his hearing towards the conversation his dad was having just as his mom flicked the TV on to some sort of drama show “Oh, Megure-keibu, yes hello” There was a pause where Yusaku listened to what his friend had to say, he laughed a little “Ah no no, I understood that you couldn’t make it, police work is never done, don’t worry about it….Haha, yes I suppose we could try again next time but now, is there something else you called me for?”  
  
Shinichi turned his head a little at the mention of the inspector’s name, something must have happened if he was calling the house. He watched as his father hummed and changed facial expressions at whatever it was the inspector was telling him, Yusaku frowned “Theft?? But eh…why do you need my help?...hah? No I don’t think so, mmh, yeah of course I’m sure…well if you have the suspects then- What? Hey wait a minute Juzo I just- huh?! No! Wait are you even listening-?! Formalities??”  
  
Yusaku sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he bit his lower lip and shook his head “I don’t know, I’m sure this is something you can wrap up, I know you can investigate well enough on your own….really? Why?.....aaand that’s a dirty move, fine, I’ll be right over” Yusaku hung up and sighed once again, he glanced to his side and caught his wife and his son staring at his direction, both of them quickly looked away and pretended that they never looked away from the TV screen. He scoffed “Megure called, he wants me to come take a look at a case, theft it seems”  
  
Yukiko hummed and looked back at him “Ah? But we just got done cleaning, I thought you wanted to take a break?”  
  
Yusaku shrugged “Well you know…it sounded a little interesting, and this _is_ counted as a break, I can’t stay idle for long and you know that”  
  
“Then why don’t you go finish writing that story of yours?”  
  
“Hahaha what??” Yusaku immediately took on a look of innocence at the question as if he didn’t know what his wife was talking about, he ignored her and made to go get Shinichi off the couch. He leaned against the arm rest and grinned at his son “Hey kiddo, do you wanna look at a theft case with me? Megure-keibu told me that they have all the suspects but witnesses gave discrepancies in their accounts and he doesn’t know which one of them might have done it, what do you say? Up for a little exercise?”  
  
He smiled when he saw Shinichi brighten at his invitation, the little boy nodded his head vigorously and jumped off the couch to run up to his room and get his coat, Yukiko shook her head “Honestly Yusaku, taking our baby to crime scenes…you’ll give him an obsession, I don’t think I can handle the two of you running after criminals at every chance you’ll get”  
  
Yusaku gave his wife a helpless look with a shrug “I never take him to the bad ones and you know very well that Shinichi would follow me anyway, remember the first time? Might as well keep him by my side and regulate what he sees than have a repeat of that”  
  
Yukiko huffed and rested her cheek on the palm of her hand, propping her elbow on top of the arm rest of the couch “Tch, Shin-chan could have been enamored by something else other than detective work if you hadn’t been such a mystery geek. Maybe I could have gotten him into acting if it weren’t for you”  
  
“Aw don’t be like that, I know you’re proud of him anyway”  
  
Yusaku jumped his eyebrows at his wife and Yukiko rolled her eyes with a smile “Whatever, like always just be careful” She stood up and quickly gave him a kiss just as Shinichi came running back into the room with a jacket on, he made a face at his parents.  
  
“Gross”  
  
Yukiko pulled away from Yusaku to grin at her son “Gross? C’mere, I’ll show you gross” Shinichi squeaked in surprise when his mother suddenly pulled him up and gave him a big smacking kiss on the cheek.  
  
Shinichi stuck his tongue out and rubbed furiously at the spot “Kaa-san!” Yukiko hugged him tight before she let him go, he immediately stuck to his father’s side and frowned at his mother.  
  
Yusaku laughed and petted his hair “You think that’s gross? She likes giving me mouth kisses everyday”  
  
Shinichi turned a horrified look at his father and blanched at his mother “You’re both gross” The parents laughed at that and Shinichi pouted into his dad’s pant leg.  
  
Yusaku got a coat from one of their coat hangers and bid his wife farewell again as he walked out of the door with his son, Yukiko told them both of be careful and watched them drive away, she shook her head “Kudo men…” She mumbled in exasperation and locked the door behind her.  


* * *

  
  
The drive to the crime scene took a little longer than expected, it seems that Halloween was celebrated in many other places, and now the streets were lined with people who attended their own parties, stayed over, and now were just itching to get back to their homes. It caused traffic, most of the early birds were quite shocked to find such a mob, since usually it took a little longer before the streets were swamped with cars and people.  
  
The novelist in particular wasn’t too keen with waiting in his car while somewhere else far from where he was there was an investigation on hold, this was partly the reason why he never really liked it when Juzo would insist on him coming over to take a closer look when the crime was already committed, he didn’t like the thought of having police work on hold just because he was running a little late. It really put him on edge.  
  
He slumped against his seat and glared at the cars in front of him, what was happening?? Why is it that traffic seemed to be moving at a snail’s pace? He still felt a little too groggy, so he didn’t care much about honking his horn to show his annoyance, he figured that it’ll only make his thinning patience worse, sighing to himself he spared a glance at his son sitting quietly beside him. Shinichi was staring out the window, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.  
  
Yusaku sometimes wondered how it is his son’s mind worked, he was surely very proud of him and very impressed since he was so young, but he pondered over what exactly it is that Shinichi sees and thinks of when faced with a problem, not that he’ll ever know, no one can tell what another is truly thinking.  
  
Yusaku just hoped that whatever it was that’s shifting around in his son’s mind, it wouldn’t cause much harm to him in the future, especially his perception of the world around them. He winced, well, if Shinichi really was set on doing detective work like he always said…there are just some cases that show the worst of humanity, he himself had his own fair share of them, but even the small cases he took Shinichi to already showed some horrid sides of ordinary looking people, he supposed that it was inevitable now but he still hoped.  
  
Now, he couldn’t really share these worries with his son, Shinichi was much too young for such serious talk, but he promised himself that one day he would sit his son down and have a nice long chat about it.  
  
For now he had nothing to say, so when traffic cleared up a little and the cars in front of him finally moved, he tore his gaze away from his son and back to the road, words left unsaid dying at the back of his throat.  


* * *

  
  
Lieutenant inspector Juzo Megure was waiting for Yusaku at the front of a museum, he was pacing back and forth while shooting glances at the road from time to time, hoping to catch a glance of the novelist’s car. He could faintly hear the suspects who were kept inside the building, they were complaining at his subordinates, loudly.  
  
The inspector felt a little guilty for leaving the younger officers alone with the irritable people but then again, experience like this will prepare them for future cases that may have a similar kind of situation. Well…that sounded a little bit like an excuse but still, he was a senior officer damn it! He probably has the right to take a break from letting suspects scream into his ears, he didn’t want to go deaf early after all.  
  
With a sigh the inspector stuffed his hands inside his coat pockets, frowning towards the direction of the museum, this was a mess. Juzo knew that Yusaku was probably tired from hosting a large party yesterday, as he heard- or rather was ranted at- from Kogoro who came into the station cranky, saying something about getting doused in fake blood and plastic bugs.  
  
He was a little jealous that Mouri was able to attend whereas he couldn’t; he supposed that that was an advantage for a junior investigator like Kogoro, sometimes he missed those days when he didn’t have as much responsibilities as he did now. Although, as a senior officer it showed he was competent in his field and that was at least something he could take pride in.  
  
He scoffed when he heard someone from inside- was that officer Nakayama?- start telling the people to calm down and stop harassing others, Juzo hoped Yusaku would get here soon. He didn’t want to inconvenience his friend, again he knew Yusaku must be tired, but the case at hand was a little bit more complex than what they could handle and he knew the novelist would get it wrapped up in a snap.  
  
He must seem pathetic for having to rely on his friend so much that he postponed investigation to wait for him but he knew when it was time to throw down the gauntlet and ask for help, he refuses to let a criminal go free and take in someone innocent, where would the justice be in that? As an officer it was his duty to uphold such a belief that justice would prevail. It didn’t stop his guilty conscience from berating him for having Yusaku come out at what sounded like an inconvenient time.  
  
A car honking snapped him from his reverie, he looked up and smiled wide when he noticed Yusaku’s car pull up near the museum, he ran to meet the novelist just as he was climbing out of his car “Yusaku! Thank you for coming out, I’m sorry for having to call you out of the blue like this” He blinked in surprise when Yusaku opened the back door and out crawled a tiny version of his friend, he grinned wide and leaned down to ruffle the child’s hair, Shinichi frowned and batted his hands away “And hello to you too Shinichi-kun, here to learn from your father??”  
  
Shinichi nodded once but said nothing else to the inspector, Juzo didn’t mind, he was used to the little boy only speaking to his father or if he wanted to point something out.  
  
At first he was hesitant to let a child into crime scenes but after Yusaku had told him that he was mentoring Shinichi he took it in stride, besides, the boy really took after his father and would sometimes find important bits of evidence that surprisingly only a child could spot. Not that he usually listened until his friend would lean in and ask for what Shinichi found, a child is a child after all even if he was the son of a particularly brilliant man.  
  
“It’s no problem Juzo, I would have had nothing to do at home anyway” Yusaku locked his car and began to walk with his friend back into the crime scene, Shinichi held on to the sleeve of his jacket right away as he started to walk, from far away the novelist could already tell that there must be some sort of scuffle going on behind the museum’s closed doors, there were several officers coming out looking haggard and evidently stressed if their troubled expressions were anything to go by.  
  
It seems they were looking for Juzo. The inspector himself shook his head in exasperation at the sight, he quickened his pace and went ahead of his friend “I-Inspector!” One of the officers met with him halfway and saluted “Sir, there’s- well, the suspects aren’t taking being held back for so long….one of them tried to start a fight with one of our own sir, when we tried to subdue him he began to lash out at us, if this case isn’t wrapped up soon then we wouldn’t be able to…”  
  
Megure patted his shoulder and walked past him “Calm yourself, I’ve got Kudo with me now, we’ll see this mess sorted out”  
  
Yusaku also patted the policeman on the shoulder with a smile “What he said” He winked and ushered his son forward when Shinichi lagged a little behind him. The officer saluted after them as they entered the museum.  
  
“I’m telling you bastards that I got nothing to do with this shit!!”  
  
That was the first sentence Yusaku heard and he immediately covered his son’s ears, Shinichi yelped and frowned at him “Tou-san what-?“ Yusaku ignored his son to frown at the man shouting at another police officer, she didn’t look too patient and the novelist could see a small can of mace peek out from one of her pockets.  
  
Yusaku tsked “You’re not being very nice”  
  
The man snapped his head towards the new voice, he scowled at Yusaku “Oh yeah? Who the fuck’re you supposed to be asshole??”  
  
The novelist’s lips tightened along with his hands over Shinichi’s ears “I have a child with me, please keep your dirty language restrained for the duration of the investigation”  
  
The man’s gaze flickered over to Shinichi at Yusaku’s side, he scoffed, Shinichi glared at him and gripped tighter onto his father’s sleeve. The man looked sleazy, short black hair, a permanent scowl on his features that distorted his face to match with the raggy looking brown overcoat he wore, the young Kudo frowned at the sweat soaked white shirt peeking from underneath, even his jeans looked worse for wear, the child huddled closer to his father.  
  
“What kind of moron brings a kid to a crime scene?” Yusaku grinned cheerily at him and released his hold on Shinichi’s ears.  
  
“A moron that’ll call out the culprit of course” The man was clearly surprised but Yusaku didn’t bother to see what his response was, he turned to Megure who had watched the exchange with distain “So inspector, care to brief me about what happened in detail?”  
  
The inspector nodded “Someone sent the museum a very suspicious notice…” The inspector retold the case that had them stuck: The museum immediately called them about the notice in fear that it was much more than a prank, the notice specified that the culprit was coming to steal a new addition to the museum, and that was a golden necklace adorned with blue jewels named ‘song of the sea’ that had recently been discovered by a diver buried under sand inside of a rusted music box.  
  
The piece itself had miraculously stayed in good condition despite the wear it’s container had gained. Investigation on the piece had shown its authenticity and it had fetched a high price on the market.  The station had sent over a few officers in response but the museum had a number of guests who had come to see the new installment, there was a bit of difficulty in regards to the officers getting to their posts.  
  
There were four suspects in the case: The curator who was the one that was first left with the piece, he had handled the music box with care and had done an examination on both the music box and the necklace, he was the only one to have repeated encounters with it.

Second was the guard who had almost accidentally broken the music box and was berated by the curator for it, the piece was in his possession until the curator took it from him.

The third was the museum owner who came by to see the necklace, he asked the curator for it and had it in his possession for quite some time.

The fourth was the sleazy looking man who was spotted circling the area of where the piece was to be taken to, he came in contact with the piece when he had bumped into the owner who had it at that time, he saved it from falling and handed it back to the owner but not without looking it over in apparent astonishment.  
  
That was all the information that Shinichi had heard at least. He glared silently at the sleazy man, something about him just didn’t rub him right, still this was only profiling like his father had told him, he shouldn’t jump to conclusions just because someone seemed a little off to him but it would be good to note just in case, for now though evidence needed to be gathered.  
  
Shinichi looked up at his father who was already eyeing the four suspects closely; he copied his father and turned his attention to the four people, picking them apart bit by bit.  
  
The curator looked the most distraught, he was holding the now empty music box close to his chest, its lid wide open as if taunting him with the truth, the owner kept glancing at the empty music box and at his fellow suspects as if trying to see if one of them would spit out the necklace at any second.  
  
The guard didn’t look all that troubled that he was being suspected, it seems he was confident that he would be innocent in all this but it didn’t stop him from getting a little nervous when the older Kudo narrowed his eyes at him.  
  
Lastly the sleazy man, he wasn’t too happy with being detained in the museum and sent everyone a nasty glare, his fellow suspects in particular like he was blaming them for getting him mixed up in all of this “Right, so why don’t I have a chat with everybody for a little bit?” Yusaku’s voice startled the silence that settled on everyone, nevertheless he continued on “I’ve heard your alibis from inspector Megure but I would like to get to know you all a little more than that” He smiled at the nervous curator who fidgeted under his gaze “Why don’t we start with you sir?”  
  
The curator raised his hand a little, taking it off the music box but it paused and pointed at himself as if unsure “A-Alright…”  
  
He stepped forward with the music box in his gloved hands, Yusaku rose his eyebrows “Why don’t you leave that with someone else? Surely you find it inconvenient to carry it at all times?”  
  
“Ah well…I’m a little…hesitant to leave it” He spared a wilting glance towards the officers “I let them examine the box at the start but it was nearly destroyed due to their rough handling, it’s a very delicate thing”  
  
Yusaku hummed “Is this why you were the first to take the music box?”  
  
The curator blinked in confusion “Beg pardon?”  
  
“You distrust everyone other than yourself to handle things like the music box properly, the moment you caught sight of it you must have rushed to take it before your assistants could yes? I hear that they were the ones who would usually take care of the reception of items to be displayed in the museum”  
  
The curator frowned at him but nodded slightly “I suppose you can put it that way….” Shinichi peered up at the man with the wavy but fixed brown hair, he noticed something odd about the way he held the music box….He looked up at his father but it seems Yusaku was still talking to him cheerily, Shinichi knew it sounded like it had nothing to do with the case at all but he trusted his father had a reason for asking such questions, he figured he could tell him about the odd handling later.  
  
The next was the sleazy man but he didn’t say a lot and was always a little bit vague about answering, Shinichi suspected as much and it only made him even more suspicious, the man caught him glaring this time and sneered at him “What’s up kid? Think I’m the thief?” He scoffed and rolled his eyes “Or are ya scared that I’m gonna shank ya dad for asking me dumb questions?”  
  
Yusaku placed a hand in front of his son “Please don’t bring my boy into this” His tone was polite but it had a tightness to it “I think I’m finished with you as well, thanks for your time”  
  
“Thanks for nothing geezer” The man spat and turned heel away from the novelist, Shinichi subconsciously noticed his strange Japanese…..  
  
Next was the guard who had gladly answered all of Yusaku’s questions, he didn’t cause much trouble for the novelist and was polite enough despite being a little on edge.

Last was the owner who was somewhat compliant with answering and kept insisting on his innocence since he was the one to request for the necklace to be displayed in his museum in the first place, why try to steal it? “You have a point” Yusaku agreed with a polite nod “But you must understand that we can’t rule anything out in an investigation, anyone can be the culprit, even those who seem to have no motive”  
  
Shinichi took his father’s words to heart and stored them away in his mind full of detective work lessons that directly or indirectly came from his father. He liked to use some as guides sometimes. The owner had reluctantly agreed to the novelist’s sentiments and answered the last questions.  
  
When everyone had been given a talk, Shinichi tugged on his father’s sleeve until Yusaku leaned down “Yes Shinichi?”  
  
“Tou-san…did you see how that curator man held the music box?”  
  
Yusaku flickered his gaze towards the curator who still held said item “A little yes, why? What do you think about it?”  
  
The novelist smiled as his son arranged his thoughts, he _had_ noticed how the curator held the box the moment he lifted his hand and paused at whatever it was it wanted to do but he liked giving Shinichi some hands on work, if his son really was set on becoming a detective it wouldn’t hurt to let him have the reins at times.  
  
Though, if Juzo realized that he treated a lot of crime scenes like homework to give his six year old son the inspector would probably give him a good stern talking to for a few solid hours “His fingers looked like it was hiding something under the box” Shinichi looked at the curator, or more precise, his hands “He doesn’t keep them off for long and they’re always in the same position”  
  
Yusaku nodded “Right, what else did you notice?”  
  
Shinichi paused and looked over to the other suspects “That sleazy man…he keeps glaring at the curator”  
  
“Sleazy ma-? Oh! You mean Wada-san?” Yusaku frowned at him when he realized what Shinichi called the man “Hey, that’s not nice”  
  
Shinichi shrugged apologetically “Sorry but ah…yeah, Wada-san keeps glaring at the curator man, I dunno, he glares at everybody but…the curator man gets most of it”  
  
Yusaku nodded and glanced back at the suspects “Anything else son? One last observation?”  
  
“Um…the guard…”  
  
Yusaku blinked in surprise “What about him?” Shinichi beckoned his father down and began to whisper in his ear, Yusaku grinned “Of course”  
  
He ruffled his son’s hair lightly, Shinichi squawked “Tou-san don’t!”  
  
The novelist chuckled and stopped “Is there anything else you’d like to add?”  
  
Shinichi shook his head “I didn’t really see anything else…do you know who did it?”  
  
Yusaku winked at him conspiringly and stood back up, Megure gave him a flat stare “Finished the whispering detective game with your boy?”  
  
Yusaku smiled at him and waved his pointer finger from side to side “Oh don’t be like that Juzo, Shinichi just told me something interesting”  
  
Megure’s eyebrows shot to his hairline “Really? What??”  
  
“You’ll see” The novelist went off to look around the crime scene accompanied by Megure and his son after he asked one of the other officers to lend him some gloves. Shinichi wasn’t all that sure about what his father wanted to find but he guessed it could be an important shred of evidence, they went around the museum just following Yusaku to whatever it is he was trying to find.  
  
 It took a little while and a bit of digging around but Yusaku found what he was looking for eventually “Aha”  
  
He presented the item to his inspector friend, Juzo frowned at it “A…straw?”  
  
Yusaku tsked at him and looked inside the straw “Not just any straw dear friend”  
  
Shinichi made a face at his father as Yusaku lightly shook the little straw “Is that why you stuck your hand in garbage cans tou-san?” The boy edged a little further away from his father, Kaito’s germ game coming back like a traumatic memory.  
  
The novelist chuckled at his son and pulled out what he wanted from the straw “Detective work can get a little messy at times Shinichi” He held up what he found from within the straw “It’s all worth it to get the evidence”  
  
Megure frowned again at the new piece of the so called evidence as Yusaku untangled it “String?? Yusaku this better not be one of your jokes”  
  
Yusaku laughed and shook his head, holding the two items in his gloved hands “Oh no, I think you’ll thank me for this later” He beckoned the two to follow him back to where the four suspects were, Shinichi kept in his tiny bit of excitement at knowing that his father was about to reveal the culprit. Once they were all there at the front entrance of the museum, Yusaku stepped forward and cleared his throat “I know who the culprit is” The suspects and some people still in the museum turned their attentions towards the novelist “Or rather _culprits_ ”  
  
Megure made a surprised sound behind him “What?”  
  
“Yes, it seems this crime was committed by more than one person” He looked towards the suspects “And I don’t think the job has been done just yet, or wait, one has been and the other is in progress. It’s a bit of a…messy crime, you know, weird double crime with no relation-ish”  
  
The suspects all looked confused “The fuck? Are you high right now geezer??”  
  
The sleazy man- Wada-san- scowled at him but there was a bit of fear in his eyes for the novelist, Yusaku smiled at him “Again, language Wada-san…though you don’t have much to worry about, after all, I’m here to see who stole the necklace”  
  
Wada-san narrowed his eyes at him, he stuffed his hands into his jeans pockets and gritted his teeth “What’re you trying to say? Am I the thief?”  
  
Yusaku shook his head “Well not yet if you haven’t actually done what you came here to do” Then his gaze flickered over to the curator who flinched at the attention “Judging by Hiroshi-san over there, you haven’t committed it yet”  
  
The curator paled and the guard turned to him in surprise “H-Hiroshi-san?”  
  
There was an accusatory tone in his voice which the curator shook his head at “Hey now! I’m not a thief!” He turned a pleading gaze towards the novelist “I’m not a thief! I swear! I haven’t the slightest idea why you’re accusing me of such! I’ve been tasked with keeping the necklace safe after all!”  
  
“I’m not accusing you of stealing the necklace Hiroshi-san” Yusaku said in a calming voice “There’s no need to become defensive over that, everyone calm down”  
  
“If you would just tell us who the thief is Kudo, it’s tense enough as it is when you claimed to know who the culprit is. There’s no need for these dramatics and keeping people waiting!” Juzo berated.  
  
Yusaku laughed nervously “Ah yeah, I guess I can’t have a little bit of fun huh?”  
  
“Not really” Megure glared flatly at the chuckling novelist.  
  
“Please Kudo-san” The owner piped up, gaining both of their attentions “I’ve been detained for quite some time but I would not like to miss any of my scheduled outings for today, if you would be so kind as to point out who might have done this??”  
  
Yusaku sighed “This is why I don’t like being called out to ongoing investigations without having been there from the start, it’s always a rush” He looked up at the suspects who immediately quieted down at his gaze, all held their breaths and shifted further away from each other, expecting their neighbor to be the criminal and getting ready to be out of his reach when he is revealed “The culprits….” He flickered his gaze over all of them, his eyes landed on the owner then he smiled “Well owner-san…it seems you are the only innocent one”  
  
Megure gasped and the surrounding officers’ eyes widened in astonishment “You don’t mean…”  
  
Yusaku nodded “Exactly” He turned his gaze towards the remaining suspects “Wada-san, Hiroshi-san and Toyama-san, you are all thieves” The air within the museum grew tense and surprised, every occupant instantly landing their eyes on the three accused men, whispering amongst each other and edging away from the vicinity of the three. Shinichi on the other hand leaned closer with his father, he was itching to see how his dad figured out who the three culprits were. He winced when Megure let out a loud surprised sound.  
  
“A group heist?!” Megure exclaimed and turned his attention towards Yusaku “Are you sure??”  
  
“It’s not a group heist per say” Yusaku amended and gestured at the three “Actually there were two heists that took- or on the case of the first- was to take place” He looked towards the curator who was trying his hardest to avoid meeting eyes with the novelist “Hiroshi-san over there is an accomplice of the thief who sent the notice” The curator visibly paled at that and he froze in place, wide curious eyes flickering towards the so called detective who was about to unveil everything and send someone- or all three of them- to jail “I found it strange that Hiroshi-san didn’t immediately place the music box in its display case and kept wandering around the museum with it in his possession, sure it may be because the case wasn’t ready at that time but surely he could have left it somewhere else instead?”  
  
“A-Ah, that was because I was afraid that the thief might steal the necklace, I was sure that if I kept it around myself even if the thief were to try I would at least fight back and get a good look at his face, I’m not an accomplice I assure you, I even stood around the guards at most times”  
  
“A nice reason but that’s not really it is it Hiroshi-san?” The curator swallowed but was unable to say anything else and gripped the box tighter “I must say, the box was closed when you first took it right? And you were the one to see the necklace within am I correct?” Yusaku turned a sly smile towards the curator who only got even more nervous “Or rather, you _didn’t_ see the necklace because you already hid it”  
  
“Is this true Hiroshi?!” The owner bellowed angrily and gripped the curator by the arms, lightly shaking him “Where is it?! Where did you put the song of the sea?! Where is it your dirty good for nothing thief?!!”  
  
Yusaku waved his hands and ran in between them “Hey! Stop!! Hiroshi-san doesn’t know where it is anymore!”  
  
The owner stopped and turned to Yusaku in confusion “What do you mean by that?” Yusaku sighed and took the music box from the shaking Hiroshi’s hands, he carefully flipped it over and pushed lightly at the bottom…that suddenly opened with a loud creak.  
  
Megure immediately ran to his friend’s side and peered into the new opening in the music box “Secret compartment?”  
  
“Yep, this is where the necklace was kept for a time since it came into the museum” The novelist turned to his son with a proud smile and petted his hair “Shinichi here noticed something odd about the way Hiroshi-san handled the box, more importantly that his fingers kept covering one spot that if you looked closer…” He closed the secret compartment and pointed at the spot where Hiroshi’s fingers were.  
  
“The…the wood is sunken” The owner said their thoughts out loud, looking at the shallow dip that interrupted the flat surface of the wood.  
  
“Exactly, and I noticed that there was a slight bit of space between the opening and the box. I guessed that this is where the necklace was kept, which also explains why it was in such good condition when the music box was not. Other than that the sink wouldn’t stand out as much since the box is in such a state already” He opened the compartment again and let those who crowded around him look inside “It seems this was specially made and none of the sea water was able to really reach within it. When the diver discovered the box he must have placed the necklace into the main opening before the discovery was made public…” He smiled and turned towards another suspect “Isn’t that right Wada-san?”  
  
Shinichi looked up at the sleazy man, silently rejoicing that his gut feeling about him was right, he smirked when he saw Wada-san twitch a bit when his father called them out “Hah? How would I know what some diver did??”  
  
“You should, since you _are_ the diver” At Wada’s stunned silence, Yusaku continued “I noticed that your hair had a lot of water damage, something usually only swimmers and divers would gain from excessive exposure to the sea and that you astonishingly had the same physique as the diver who refused to be known on the news. That and you had the same water proof watch that he wore on his left wrist, dent on the side and all”  
  
Wada’s eyes flickered towards his watch, something within them dancing towards betrayal for the watch that he trusted would take him back to the surface on time before his oxygen ran out would give him away. He scoffed in defeat but turned a challenging eye towards the novelist “Damn…really? My watch?? How would that help you paint me as a thief though?”  
  
“It wouldn’t but I’m sure your fingerprints all around the secret compartment should further solidify that you were the diver, although as the thief? That shouldn’t be hard, Hiroshi-san may be your accomplice but I’m sure he would comply with answering some questions if given a little leeway”   
  
Megure was protesting to that since Yusaku technically didn’t have the authority to promise anything to any of the suspects but he supposed that they would figure something out for a testimony, judging by the look of Hiroshi it wouldn’t be too hard to get anything out from him “So that’s it? Wada-san is the thief then”  
  
Yusaku shook his head “No, I said he isn’t a thief _yet_ since he never got to steal what he came for”  
  
“Oh yes, you said that Hiroshi doesn’t know where the necklace is anymore” The owner sent the curator a nasty glare “Not that I’m surprised, this man had always been a clumsy oaf. It’s no wonder you two got caught if you were the accomplice, a lousy one for losing your target”  
  
“Oh but he didn’t lose the target”  
  
Everyone turned incredulous gazes towards the novelist “You’re not making any sense you crazy fu-“  
  
“Bad word!” Shinichi glared at him, not really minding the word but for trying to insult his father.  
  
Wada sneered at him “ _Fucker_ ” He emphasized, ignoring Yusaku’s scowl for cursing in front of his son, which really wasn’t helping his case for being accused as a thief “First you say he lost it and now you say he still has the necklace?”  
  
Yusaku tsked “Stop playing innocent, it wasn’t the necklace you wanted…it’s the music box” He looked back at the curator “Hiroshi-san, when Toyama-san had almost broken the music box you didn’t berate him for almost damaging the necklace, just the box, I hear that you never even looked inside to see if the necklace was safe, you just turned the box in your hand to see if it was fine because that was Wada-san and yours’ real target” He smirked at the two of them “Care to enlighten this? After all this was only an attempt, you never actually stole it so there isn’t much damage done”  
  
Hiroshi pursed his lips but Wada sighed and rolled his eyes “Fuck it, sure why not? Let’s tell some sad story shit right now”  
  
Yusaku frowned at him “Must you curse?”  
  
“Fuck you, it’s part of my charm” Shinichi had plugged his ears in at this point but he wanted to know what the motive was so there was a bit of space in his ears to at least hear the muffled version he can ask his father to clear up later “See, I came back to Japan just for this reason, my old man was being a bastard and kept bitching about great grandmother being sad about losing her old inherited music box some odd years ago”  
  
“Wait…your great grandmother wouldn’t happen to be Erika Wada of the Wada family?” One officer questioned.  
  
 Wada laughed “Yep, that’s the old bag…” He sighed “So my dad told me to get my ass up and go back to Japan to look for the old bag’s music box, he told me ‘You got that diver’s license right? Give it some use! And don’t even think of coming back to America until you have it’ So here I am and there it is” He scowled at the owner next “When I asked for this piece of shit to hand over the music box he spouted some bullshit about gaining the rights to it already. Look, the old bag must’ve kept that necklace in there, I didn’t even know it was there until I found the secret compartment, I would’ve let ‘em keep the stupid thing but this fucker-“ He spat in the direction of the owner who jumped away with an angry yelp “-Said that it would look a lot more authentic with the box since it was such a ‘miracle’ that the necklace was kept in good shape even when the box wasn’t” Then he shrugged “I didn’t care, I just wanted the fuckin’ box, and if you’re going to ask: No, I don’t fuckin’ know where the necklace is, told you, just the box. If you’ll ask anyone ask Junpei, pretty sure the little shit must’ve seen it before it went poof on him and kept me here longer than I wanted”  
  
“Who’s Junpei?” Megure questioned.  
  
Hiroshi lifted his hand “That would be me” He said quietly.  
  
The owner scowled “Why did you even agree to any of this madness?!”  
  
“’Cause we’re cousins” Wada drawled with little to no interest “It was just a coincidence that the thing ended up where he was working”  
  
Megure growled at them and crossed his arms “If you wanted the box then why did you send out the note saying that you’ll take the necklace?”  
  
“It’s a distraction” Everyone startled at the new voice and looked around to see who had spoken, Yusaku cleared his throat and tilted his head downwards and right at Shinichi who continued despite all the attention suddenly falling on him “If everyone became focused on protecting the necklace then the music box wouldn’t even be given a second glance. Wada-san and Hiroshi-san must have planned to hide the necklace inside the secret compartment and claim that the thief had already stolen it; it would cause a search for the necklace to break out thus successfully distracting the officers. Hiroshi-san would then take the box away- maybe say that he’ll keep it in storage- then give Wada-san the necklace to hide somewhere the police would find then smuggle the box out of Japan and back to America” Shinichi finished then turned to the remaining suspect “But someone stole the necklace before they could do this”  
  
Yusaku smiled and patted his son’s head “I agree…Toyama-san?”  
  
The guard blanched and stepped away, he shook his head “Ah? No, of course I wouldn’t be the thief! I’m a guard after all, I was one of the few who were tasked to keep it safe” He sneered at Hiroshi who shrunk away “Maybe he hid it somewhere and is trying to make himself look innocent”  
  
Yusaku shook his head “No, Toyama-san you are the one who stole the necklace” Yusaku grinned at him but the look was predatory, the look he always gained when he was about to corner the suspect. Shinichi idly wondered if he could copy that look one day “You know…you should really get your collar fixed, it wouldn’t do for an officer to have such raggy clothing”  
  
Toyama flinched and fingered his collar “O-Oh?” He sputtered out. Megure subtly gestured for some of the officers to start circling around Toyama while Yusaku continued on.  
  
The novelist took out the two items he was searching for earlier, the guard paled at the sight of them “These should look familiar nee?” The straw and the string dangled from Yusaku’s fingers, the sight of them taunting the guard to his demise.  
  
“What?” He tried for innocence once again.  
  
Yusaku sighed “You’ve been drinking iced coffee correct? That was one of the reasons Hiroshi-san berated you for since it almost spilled on the box. Though no one could have guessed that you took the necklace away like this….” Yusaku was honestly a little tired, double thievery (or a thievery and an attempted one) in one day, he _really_ should have just stayed home today, he still felt tired and he was starting to get impatient since the culprit kept trying to pull the innocence act. He decided to wrap this up quick, go home, take a soothing bath then go straight to bed for the rest of the day.  
  
“You must have seen Hiroshi-san trigger the compartment when he first got the box, since you were a guard he wouldn’t have minded you being around and mostly thought you would chalk it up to him doing an examination of the piece. When you realized that the necklace was within the compartment you hit the box on purpose and pretended to scramble to save it from getting damaged while using the chaos to open the compartment and slip the necklace into your cup without Hiroshi-san noticing before giving it back” Yusaku fingered his own shirt collar “Then you hid it, using the straw from your drink you slipped the necklace into the collar of your uniform, a collar so stiff no one would notice that something was inside” He waved the string at the guard “This string used to be part of the stitches you tore out, am I correct?”  
  
At that, Megure decided to step in and approach the guard “Alright, please come quietly and we’ll check inside your collar-“  
  
“STEP BACK!” Toyama pulled a gun and everyone instinctively stepped away from him “You think I’ll just go with you?!” He laughed and pulled the safety off “Yeah right!” He shot at the lights and the whole room was drenched in darkness, some people screamed.  
  
Yusaku heard someone running and immediately knew that it was Toyama making a break for it, he sprinted after the thief and managed to catch his arm “HEY-!” His eyes widened and he cut himself off when Toyama pointed a gun at him, his shaking fingers fidgeting near the trigger.  
  
Yusaku jumped out of the way just as Toyama pulled the trigger on him, he gasped and gripped his arm just as the thief ran outside “TOU-SAN!!” Shinichi heard his father’s gasp of pain and quickly ran towards him.  
  
Yusaku held him back “It’s just a graze Shinichi” He staggered and quickened his pace out the museum. He could faintly hear Megure shouting at his officers to get themselves together and start pursuing the thief while some are to stay and make sure no one else was injured. Yusaku burst out of the museum with Shinichi running behind him, he gritted his teeth against the pain and frantically searched around for Toyama, he spotted him running from a distance “STOP THAT MAN! SOMEONE STOP THAT THIEF!!” He bellowed and began to run as well, still clutching his bleeding arm.  
  
Yusaku was afraid that Toyama was too far for him to catch on foot and that the thief would get away when suddenly Toyama tripped over nothing and was wrapped up in colorful looking handkerchiefs. The thief flailed on the floor until a person  stepped out from a corner and held him down with a foot, onlookers staring wide eyed and curious at the scene.  
  
Only when Yusaku was close enough did he recognize the man who stopped Toyama “Toichi!!”  
  
The magician looked up at the call and went wide eyed when he spotted his friend “Yusaku?”  
  
The novelist slowed down and panted hard, using the wall of a building to support him as he glared down at Toyama “T-Thank you for catching him….”  
  
Toichi frowned at the state of his friend and gasped when he saw blood drip down from his arm “Yusaku you’re bleeding!!” The novelist looked pale and haggard, it didn’t help that the adrenaline from running was wearing off and that he was still dead tired.  
  
Toichi blinked in surprise when Shinichi came running in after his father, he looked just as concerned and panicked as Toichi felt “Tou-san! W-We need to get you to a hospital!!”  
  
Yusaku smiled tired at him and shook his head “It’s just a graze, I’ll be fine”  
  
“You were shot!!”  
  
“You were shot?!” Toichi echoed incredulously, he ran his hand through his hair “Are you mad?! Chasing a thief while you’re injured! For goodness sake Yusaku!”  
  
The novelist smiled secretively at him “It never stopped me before” Toichi would have laughed at the inside joke if his friend wasn’t bleeding out in front of him.  
  
Before he could berate Yusaku however, another voice chimed in “Tou-san I told you no magic! Don’t think I didn’t see….you.....” Kaito rounded the corner and gaped at the scene before him. His eyes flickered towards the tied up squirming man, his father who had one foot on top of the tied up squirming man, Yusaku-ojisan who was _bleeding_ , and lastly but certainly not the least: Shin-chan who was at his father’s side and trying to catch his breath.  
  
Kaito exhaled shakily “W-Wha…?” Then police cars and officers suddenly came and surrounded the area, shouting at Toyama to give up and come with them quietly, amidst all the chaos the tied up man was shouting obscenities which made Toichi stuff a bouquet full of roses into his mouth. Kaito blinked.  
  
What the hell happened?  


* * *

  
  
“Argh! Too tight!!”  
  
Chikage tsked at Yusaku and loosened up the bandage around his arm “At least it really was a graze like you said, you’re lucky I keep this around”  
  
Toichi sat across from them, he sent Yusaku an exasperated look “Lucky indeed you crazy novelist, what were you doing chasing down a thief while injured?” They decided to stay near the restaurant that the Kuroba family was at before Toichi heard Yusaku’s cries of stopping the thief.  
  
Chikage wasn’t happy to find Yusaku bleeding out when she came around the corner looking for her husband and her son, in fact she screamed and began to fuss over the novelist “What are we going to tell Yukiko?”  
  
Yusaku paled at that and waved his one good arm “A-ah! No need to tell her! I’ll be fine, it’s a graze! A graze!”  
  
“Do you really think I’d let you off that easily?” Chikage’s flat stare was all Yusaku received, he sighed. Yukiko would go ballistic on him later, she’ll probably demand that he stop helping out the police for a while and lock him in his study to just write until she was happy.  
  
Toichi noticed his look and chuckled “It’s for the best Yusaku, we’re your friends after all, we’re only looking out for you” He yawned and nonchalantly looked down at his watch “I guess you’ll have to stop catching thieves all willy nilly for a while”  
  
Yusaku scoffed with a smile and rolled his eyes at him “Oh sure, I guess thieves everywhere will have a grand time with one less person to chase after them huh?”  
  
“Oh I don’t know, it might be a little boring without the challenge”  
  
“Boys please” Chikage sighed at the amused looks the two were shooting at each other, at this rate she won’t be able to get them to shut up about their ‘subtle’ jokes. She hit her husband’s arm, honestly, did Toichi have to insist on living like he was constantly on a tight rope?   
  
Toichi’s impish grin answered her well enough, she muttered under her breath and went back to work “Now just hold still a little longer Yusaku, I’m almost done”  
  
“Ouch!”  
  
“No way!” The two children present were ignoring their parents in favor of each other. Shinichi had just finished recounting what had happened prior to when Kaito found them, the young magician was instantly enraptured by the story and had stuck to staring in amazement for the duration of its telling “Wow, and you got to do some detective work yourself huh?”  
  
Shinichi grinned at that and ducked his head a little at the astounded look his friend was giving him “Oh you know…it was just a little thing”  
  
Kaito huffed “’Little thing’? Shin-chan you noticed some valid points! Like the curator and how held the box and the guard with the torn collar! If you hadn’t said anything maybe your dad would’ve taken longer” Kaito bumped his friend with his shoulder with a grin “Pretty amazing work there tantei-kun”  
  
Shinichi reddened a little at the comments “He would’ve noticed them later…” He tried for modesty again but Kaito didn’t take it.  
  
“Don’t give me that Shin-chan, you were amazing on your own! Maybe next time when you catch the bad guy, I’ll be there to let everyone know that it was my Shin-chan who got ‘em!” The young magician leaned forward and pulled his friend into a hug, squishing their cheeks together “I’m lucky to have an amazing friend like you nee? Just don’t forget me when you’re famous!!” Shinichi tried to squirm out of his hold but it only proved to make the magician’s grip on him tighten, he sighed but smiled at his friend.  
  
“Same goes to you magician-kun, I’ll be sure to use my VIP ticket every chance I get”  
  
Kaito beamed at that “You got it huh?”  
  
Shinichi grinned back at him “No take backsies”  
  
The young magician laughed, let him go then crossed his heart “No take backsies!” He agreed.  
  
Kaito’s smile faltered a little when he turned to look at Shinichi’s father, he frowned at the bandage on his arm that slowly went red before it was covered by another layer, he turned to Shinichi then looked to his lap “Nee Shin-chan…” Shinichi looked back at him but Kaito didn’t meet his eyes. The magician kicked his dangling legs “I know you wanna be a detective and all, that’s completely fine and I know you’ll be great at it, but….I dunno, just be careful….criminals do lots of crazy stuff sometimes, or so I’ve heard and…”

His eyes flickered towards Yusaku before he shook his head “…I just don’t want you to get hurt going after your dream, I expect to see you at every single one of my shows y’know?” He gave his friend a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. 

Shinichi placed a hand on his shoulder in response but didn’t say a word “Stuff like what happened to your dad, eh well I don’t expect them to happen much to you cause you’re pretty great!” He got a shoulder dig and he half laughed at that “But just in case….” Shinichi blinked when Kaito placed a hand on his head, the young magician breathed out and stared him straight in the eye “I give you the Kuroba’s blessing, may lady luck smile on you!”  
  
Shinichi’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion “Hah?”  
  
“It’s a thing” Kaito said and drew his hand back “Dad told me us Kuroba’s have this tendency to be really lucky, I think he’s joking but sometimes I believe him. Once I fell from the stairs but mom was rearranging the furniture and I landed on the couch, didn’t even get hurt at all!! And another one was when I was at a water park and the water slide I was on broke but I landed on a tent and into a pool, the manager told me I was really lucky!”  
  
Shinichi swallowed, okay so he doesn’t believe in the whole luck and stuff but hearing those stories…Maybe the luck thing never worked out for a lot of people because the Kurobas were hoarding all of it “Eh…maybe you shouldn’t give me your luck Kaito….”  
  
His friend grinned “What? Scared for me Shin-chan?” Kaito shrugged “Don’t worry! It’s just a little bit of luck, I didn’t give you _all_ of it, just enough to get you by when you become a detective!” He smiled at his friend “I’ll be fine” Shinichi wanted to believe him, but he felt that maybe the little bit of luck that Kaito ‘gave’ him might be needed one day.  
  
Oh well, it’s not like luck was real anyway, luck was what you make of it but…..His mind flashed back to when Toichi was performing his escape trick on the spiked bed during his show, Shinichi paled when his mind replaced the image of Toichi to his friend and the spike blade dropping too fast. He felt nauseous “Shin-chan?” He blinked and was faced with Kaito’s concerned eyes “Are you feeling sick?”  
  
Shinichi shook his head and leaned away when his friend tried to press their foreheads together to check his temperature “Just…same goes to you idiot magician, don’t do anything dumb on your shows”  
  
Kaito blinked in surprise, Shinichi was worrying about him? He grinned “Ah don’t worry my hime-sama” He produced a blue rose and tucked it behind Shinichi’s ear “Your knight will be fine, so please don’t frown” Shinichi rolled his eyes at him and opened his mouth to say something only for his friend to cover it with a hand “I know I know: ‘I saw it come out from your pant pocket’” He felt Shinichi’s smile from underneath his hand.  
  
When Chikage was finished putting Yusaku back together, the two Kudos had to say their goodbyes since Yusaku was still a little tired and was all too impatient to get back home despite the lecture on safety he was sure would come once his wife gets Chikage’s text messages.  
  
“Are you sure you don’t want us to drive you back home?” Toichi had asked but his friend merely shook his head.  
  
“I’m fine, I think I can handle a drive back home, besides, I wouldn’t want to impose on this family outing” He moved to take Shinichi by the hand but paused when he saw his son go over and give Kaito a goodbye hug, one the magician returned with fervor. He smiled at the sight and so did the two Kuroba parents.  
  
Shinichi came over and took his father’s hand soon after Kaito let him go with a bit of reluctance “I suppose you’ll be taking care of yourself for the next few days?” Toichi said with a smirk.  
  
Yusaku rolled his eyes at him “More like weeks or months once Yukiko reads Chikage’s texts” He mirrored his friend’s smirk as he turned around to walk back to the museum with his son “Don’t get into too much trouble while I’m gone” He said with a wave of his hand.  
  
Toichi chuckled “I can’t promise you that old friend” Yusaku didn’t mind in the slightest.  
  
Shinichi looked back to see the Kuroba family waving them off, or more precise, at Kaito who was shouting a word he was very familiar with “Later!!” He smiled, it was never a goodbye with Kaito these days, there was always an underlying feeling that they would eventually find their way back to each other, and he found himself liking it that way more and more.  
  
Shinichi waved back at his friend, uttering the single word that held a promise that only the two of them would understand“Later!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a nice little chapter of Yusaku putting a child in a dangerous situation. Best dad 2k16.  
> Also Toichi and his stressful nightlife, woot woot. 
> 
> Adieu~!


	8. Lighted Wick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT among other things down below! Thanks!

As expected, Yusaku gained a firm talking to from Yukiko as soon as they got home. His wife had pulled him in harshly and began to go on and on about his recklessness and endangerment of his own health and of their son’s. Yusaku had protested to that and claimed that he had kept Shinichi perfectly safe during the shooting, when asked about how he got shot the novelist had quietly muttered that he ran after an _armed_ security guard who was the thief, Yukiko had screamed at that.  
  
It quickly turned into a squabble between the parents, their voices reached new highs along the way that Shinichi almost couldn’t hear himself think, when they began to shoot minor insults at each other Shinichi had screamed- teary eyed- at them for being stupid and getting angry when they had both already apologized to each other before, clearly upset at seeing his parents fighting right in front of him, confused that despite the apologies early into the conversation they didn’t seem to want to forgive each other. The little boy had ran up to his room and locked himself in, ignoring his parents calling after him.  
  
Shinichi had been leaning against the door when Yukiko and Yusaku came up to try and coax him out, the young Kudo had plugged his ears in response and refused to listen to what they had to say.

The Kudo parents felt guilty about upsetting their son and both had stayed near his room entrance for a good amount of time, telling Shinichi through the door that they weren’t mad at each other anymore from time to time.

Only when Yusaku got pushed forward from his position against the door did they realize that Shinichi finally poked his head out to look at them both wearily, once he was assured that neither of them were about to shout at each other again he fully stepped out of his room. Yukiko had hugged him and apologized for shouting, same went for Yusaku who enveloped them both in a hug, saying his own apologies along with Yukiko. Shinichi had forgiven them both eventually.  
  
  
Later, Megure had called their house to update Yusaku on how the case was going: Joji Wada and Junpei Hiroshi were both being charged with fines for the attempted theft, though it wasn’t as hefty as the punishment Yoshiyo Toyama gained for stealing the necklace and evading arrest.

Though, Wada was able to gain ownership of his great grandmother’s music box in the end and he was expecting to return to America in no time. Before Megure could continue however, Yukiko snatched the phone away from her husband, firmly told Juzo to stop calling them until further notice, slammed the phone down and glared at Yusaku until he skittered away like a frightened roach into their room.  
  
So Yusaku didn’t get off without punishment, Yukiko had told him to stop helping the police like he had guessed, and was now confined to writing his stories as his past time for a month, well, at least his editors were happy about the news. Yusaku had a feeling that Yukiko had contacted them to add to his punishment, which is the reason why they were hounding him at every corner. He never got a moment of peace!  
  
Shinichi only snickered since his father was the one who was grounded this time. Still, it was nice to see his father kick back for a while and just do things he usually considered mundane, he even finished whole chapters of his novels! Once he even caught him talking with Toichi-ojisan over the phone, he didn’t really understand what they were talking about but his father seemed to lighten up every time he spoke with the older Kuroba, once he laughed so hard he almost fell off his chair, and wasn’t that a nice sight?  
  
Although, his father did tend to hog the phone at times, especially when Shinichi wanted to talk with a certain other Kuroba as well, he told his father as such and Yusaku had repeated what he said in surprise, then he heard Toichi laugh from the phone.

It didn’t take long for his father to follow and he just stood there with puffed out cheeks and a warning glare until both adults calmed down. Eventually his father had willingly handed the phone over to him and Toichi greeted him cheerily before he called his son over to talk.  
  
Kaito was all too thrilled to find out that Shinichi called him first this time and the two boys went on to chat mostly about what they’ve been doing and whether or not Shinichi and Ran were going to attend one of Toichi’s shows in the future. Shinichi told Kaito that he already talked to Ran about the invitation at school, he told him what Ran said when he asked if her parents were okay with it: Eri was all too happy to hear that her daughter gained an invitation to a magic show that was honestly hard to get tickets for, Kogoro didn’t really care as much and usually that meant an okay from him.  
  
Kaito was undoubtedly happy to hear that and had called his father over to tell him about it, Shinichi slightly heard the conversation that went on between the two Kurobas but he was sure Toichi had agreed to whatever Kaito said because his friend let out a happy noise before he went back to confirm Shinichi’s suspicions.

“Tou-san said he could make some room in the front row for one of his future shows” Kaito had told him “You and Ran-chan have a lot of time to get ready though, it won’t be until somewhere in the middle of November! Weekend of course”  
  
Shinichi grimaced at the thought of going out during November since that month marked the end of fall and the entrance of winter. Usually he would stay at home and huddle under mounds of blankets and duvets, a good book in hand and a cup of hot chocolate beside him.

Although every part of him screamed at having to step out into the chilly air of November, he supposed he didn’t mind as much this time since he actually had a reason to go out, a reason that quite frankly he rather liked. So in the end, Shinichi had agreed to the chosen time and all that was left was to tell Ran about it “I bet you’ll be really surprised when you meet Aoko” Kaito said.  
  
Shinichi hummed at that “She…looks like Ran right?”  
  
Kaito made a noncommittal noise “Scary same, kinda like you and me but girls”  
  
“Wow”  
  
“I know right? It’s super weird!” Shinichi supposed that he should tell Ran to get ready to meet her doppelganger, surely his experience from when he was five taught him that not everybody enjoyed discovering that someone else was wearing their face but….”Do you think I should tell Ran? You know, just to brace herself?”  
  
A weird part of him rejoiced when Kaito sounded hesitant with his answer “If you wanna…” Shinichi smirked. Looks like someone else is gonna take a fall like he did, by someone else he meant Ran. He felt a little mean but he honestly just wanted someone else to be as freaked out as he was when he was five, and if he knew Ran she’d be perfectly fine in the end, maybe even excited to meet someone who looked like her.  
  
“Nah, I’m not gonna” He could practically feel his friend mirror his grin from the other side of the phone.  
  
 “Ohoho? Am I rubbing off on you Shin-chan? That’s not good; _one_ of us has to be the saint in this relationship”  
  
“Says Mr. crying-for-a-week-cause-Nami-chan-got-hurt”  
  
“She was wounded!!”  
  
“Kaito, Nami-chan just hit her head a little on the window, she was fine you big worry wart” Shinichi smiled exasperatedly with a sigh.  
  
Kaito fake sniffled “She could’ve died”  
  
Shinichi chuckled at that “Idiot magician”  
  
“Heartless tantei-kun” It was said in fondness just as Shinichi had with his signature name for the young magician.  
  
He smiled softly “Just don’t tell Ran about your friend when you call her, I know you’re planning on telling her about when your dad’s show is supposed to be”  
  
Kaito snickered “Yeah yeah, my lips are sealed dear partner in crime” Shinichi was satisfied with that answer and went on to talk about other things with his friend until their parents had called them both away.  
  
They never even noticed the time.  
  
  
  
At school, Shinichi and Ran spent a lot of their time talking and wondering about the show that was supposed to take place in the middle of November. It inevitably led to Ran asking about whether or not Shinichi actually saw one of Toichi Kuroba’s shows before as he had accidentally hinted the last time they talked over the phone, Ran had cornered him well and Shinichi had to give her the nicer version of when Kaito and he ended their day together by watching the older Kuroba’s show. He mostly made up at least half of the story but Ran either didn’t notice or didn’t care, he thought she must’ve been suspecting something though.  
  
She was a little surprised when he told her about the reason he was in Ekoda with Kaito; he had stayed over at his house for the weekend “Wow, you actually stayed over someone else’s house??” Ran stared wonderingly at him “I thought you were just bluffing when you told me before but… _woooow_ ”  
  
Shinichi glared at her “Oi, you say it like I have no ability to have friends”    
  
Ran of course ignored his little tantum and looked down at her lunch instead.  She pouted and poked at it “It sucks that we never got to do that too, why do our parents gotta be so weird about letting us stay over at each other’s house?”  
  
“My mom seems to be fine with it” Shinichi shrugged then winced at the memory of his mother gushing about Ran coming over “…A little too fine with it”  
  
Ran chuckled and shook her head “Does she do it like our classmates?”  
  
Shinichi gave her a questioning look “Like our classmates?”  
  
“Y’know….say we’re..” They both stared at each other then both went bright red at the realization, the two kids looked away from each other, Ran cleared her throat and Shinichi coughed “Gross”  
  
Ran nodded in agreement “Yeah, gross” She smirked at Shinichi and bumped his shoulder “Who’d wanna marry a geek like you?”  
  
Shinichi grinned at her and rolled his eyes “Same goes to you icky girl” Ran dug at his shoulder and Shinichi stuck his tongue out at her, they both laughed “Aw the couple’s being cute!” Someone in their classroom shouted.

The two kids stiffened at that and subconsciously inched away from each other, the air becoming a little awkward. Shinichi glared at his shoes while Ran quietly ate beside him, why did everybody always make it so weird between him and his best friend?  
  
Ran herself had the same kind of thought going through her head, she was a little miffed that the happy mood she was in shattered a little, she glanced at Shinichi and noticed that he was upset about it too, she smiled and poked his arm “Nee, so I was wondering whether or not you found something good to read? It’s been a while since you told me about Sherlock Holmes, I was starting to think you didn’t like him anymore” That flipped a switch.

In no time her best friend started to go on and on about his hero and regained the starry look in his eyes as he began to get more excited about the topic, Ran was a little put off by it as usual but seeing Shinichi happy again was all she wanted, so she sat through everything he had to rant about until they both finished their lunches and the bell rang to signal the start of classes.  
  
In Ekoda, Aoko was a little surprised when Kaito cornered her in class and practically begged her to come see one of his dad’s magic shows somewhere in the middle of November. She didn’t really know why he was so insistent on that particular date but he was relentless in asking her about it, actually, he was so relentless it was starting to get annoying “Pleeaaaase Aoko-chan! It’s a matter of life and death!”  
  
She was nibbling on a biscuit whilst ignoring her friend’s pleading gaze, she sighed “How is me going to your dad’s show a matter of life and death baKaito?”  
  
She turned to look at her friend who looked at her as if she drooled all over her shirt, he raised his hands up “Duh! It’s the life of a friendship or the death of one! I reaaaally want you to meet some people!” That was another thing that confused her, meet people? Friendship?? Exactly what was Kaito trying to say?  
  
She sent him a sideways glare “Are you saying Aoko is a loner and doesn’t know how to make her own friends?”  
  
Kaito shook his head at that “No! It’s just..you know? Cause you’re my friend right? And I have this other friend who has a friend and I want us all to be friends!”  
  
Aoko scoffed but there was a hint of amusement in it, she smiled slightly at her silly friend “’My friends and your friends should be friends so we’re better friends?’” She laughed a little when Kaito looked shocked that she actually figured out what he was trying to do, she hummed “Well…I like your dad’s shows…” She subtly watched his reaction and was happy to note that he was quickly getting antsy about hearing her answer, he was edging to the end of his seat to listen “..I’ll have to ask my dad about it”  
  
Apparently Kaito interpreted that as her yes because she suddenly found herself being spun around in the air by the energetic boy, she yelped and held onto him “BAKAITO! PUT ME DOWN!!” Kaito grinned up at her but did as he was told, she dusted herself off and huffed at him “You could’ve made me throw up!” Although she wasn’t actually that upset with him, she rather liked having to see Kaito’s enthusiasm in full swing, you really can’t help but be caught in his mood at times.  
  
“But you didn’t and that’s all that matters!” Kaito swung her a thumbs up. She moved to sit on her chair again but a balloon popping behind her surprised her enough to make her jump up again just as confetti and streamers exploded behind her seat, she looked up to find Kaito’s teasing look “Hearts?”  
  
She was confused for a second then she blushed furiously when she realized what her friend said, she screamed in embarrassment and began to throw her books at him “BAKAITO BAKAITO BAKAITOOOO!!”

Kaito laughed and dodged her books, he spun around, jumped, ducked just generally going all around their classroom as Aoko chased after him. He threw flowers in her direction in hopes of confusing her but she just batted them all away with her math book, the two kids kept running around much to the amusement of their other classmates until they were both out of breath. Aoko hit Kaito with her book once and Kaito feigned severe injury in reaction, Aoko rolled her eyes at him as he sunk to the floor “Idiot” She muttered.

Kaito opened on eye to look up at her from the floor “You love me anyway”  
  
She hid her blush and scoffed with a smile then helped him back up “If you keep doing that, I swear I’ll start using an even bigger weapon to bash in your dumb head” She ignored him even as he draped himself over her shoulders, she was pretty used to his clinginess by now.  
  
“You wouldn’t hurt me~” He sang.  
  
She glared flatly at him “You wanna bet?”  
  
Kaito backed off at that, hands raised in mock surrender “Oh I would never challenge the wrath of the great Aoko-sama!”  
  
She knew he probably meant the opposite of that but she grinned at him anyway “You darn right you wouldn’t!” They laughed together and later Kaito apologized for earlier and showed his gratefulness for her coming to the show by hosting a personal magic show for her. Aoko sighed to herself, what had she gotten herself into when she became friends with this boy? Certainly she didn’t mind even if he _was_ a bit of a jerk at times, she knows he never really meant to be mean, he just likes to tease.

It was in the small moments though, the times when Kaito stopped treating the whole world as a stage and just sat back to be himself, comfortable, carefree and just generally happy about his life. She liked those moments when she could see her friend underneath the act. She smiled just as Kaito performed a vanishing trick with a flower, but her smile wasn’t for that trick, it was for the magician.  
  
When the bell rang to start class, Aoko had berated Kaito for having them both clean up the mess his tricks had left behind, Kaito called her ungrateful for not appreciating that he put up a show just for her, Aoko called him sloppy for being unable to perform tricks without leaving a mess. At the end, there were still a few pieces of confetti waving around the classroom.  
  


* * *

  
  
The weeks that followed since the start of November found both pairs of kids constantly marking down the days in their calendars. In Shinichi’s case it was Ran who was just too excited to let the topic go while in Kaito’s case it was him who couldn’t let the topic go while Aoko had to suffer through listening to him go off about magic and new friends. Shinichi and Aoko would have both agreed that maybe they shouldn’t have said yes so early into November because now they had to sit through half a month listening to their respective friends explode about how excited they were. It was all in the name of friendship so both soldiered through it with patient smiles on their faces.  
  
It was a little comical that during the course of the month, Kaito had blatantly refused to let Shinichi visit his house. The young magician did everything from excuses to dragging Shinichi away from his gates when the young Kudo would drop by with his father for a quick hello only to find himself seated at a park bench ways away from where Kaito’s house should be.

When questioned about it, Kaito would simply tell him that he wanted him to officially meet Aoko during the show and that the surprise would be ruined if he stayed over for even a second since the girl lived beside him.

Shinichi flatly responded that he’s practically meeting Aoko everyday every time he looked at Ran if Kaito had been telling the truth about the two girls looking alike. Kaito would shush him and say that it would be better this way since the suspense would add flavor to their meeting, who was this mystery Ran look alike?? Stay tuned to find out Shin-chan! At this point, Shinichi would roll his eyes and tell him that he was being an idiot and Kaito would laugh.  
  
“It’s not my fault you don’t like surprises” Kaito skidded his swing to a stop beside Shinichi’s to talk to the other boy “You just have this weird fear of knowing you don’t know something. I’m willing to bet that when someone would ask what kind of superpower you’d want, you’d say omniscience”  
  
Shinichi frowned at that “No, that would be boring. I like to _figure things out,_ not know everything per say. Surprises usually don’t have clues, which is why I don’t like them. Get your facts straight”  
  
“Oh? So is that why you screamed so loud when we first met?” Kaito snickered “I just thought you were really excited to see me”  
  
Shinichi blushed at the memory and kicked at his friend “I didn’t even know you! Plus I thought you were mirror! It’s a normal response when the thing you thought was a mirror suddenly spoke to you and tried to touch you” Kaito smiled teasingly at him and pulled his friend’s swing closer using the chain that held it.  
  
Shinichi growled at him and inched away, Kaito brought him closer “Aw don’t be like that, to be fair I thought you were a mirror too, a really cool one that can scream apparently”  
  
“Har har, shove off Kuroba” Kaito winked at him then let his swing go, Shinichi had to steady himself as it began to swing from side to side without Kaito holding it still.  
  
 “….You were totally gonna cry though”Kaito mumbled, and by mumbled it was said in a loud whisper like voice. Shinichi side eyed his friend who was smirking at nothing in particular.  
  
The young Kudo rolled his eyes “I wasn’t”  
  
“Was too, I saw it”  
  
“Was not! I had something in my eye, I’m pretty sure it was a piece of your hair”  
  
“Liar, you were gonna cry! You were gonna!!”  
  
“Nu-uh!”  
  
“Ya-huh!” Both boys paused and stared at each other, they winced “That was weird”  
  
Kaito nodded “What was that word grown-ups use?...déjà vu?”  
  
They stayed quiet until Shinichi added “I wasn’t gonna cry” Kaito chose to not respond to that and instead made a blue powder explode from underneath Shinichi’s swing. He was soon being chased after by a blue Shinichi who kept yelling that he was going to kick him so hard all of his props were going to fall out of him, Kaito actually feared for his life at that point. Thankfully, Shinichi hadn’t actually kicked the life from his body and instead smeared some of his own blue powder onto him, the boys returned to the Kuroba residence covered from head to toe in the powder.  
  
Yusaku and Chikage weren’t too thrilled with it; Shinichi had to ride the car sitting on a piece of plastic while Kaito had to be carried by blanket into a bathtub to avoid scattering more of the blue powder in his house, miraculously the two of them didn’t get anything dirtied.

Though, later Shinichi heard his mother talking to Chikage over the phone about Kaito accidentally triggering those colorful smoke bombs of his and that his friend was now tasked with cleaning every single inch of the house that got covered in powder, he asked his mother for the phone and had Chikage call Kaito over. Shinichi cheerily said one word: ‘Karma’ then gave the phone back to his mother just as Kaito said ‘I thought you called to comfort me! Heartless tantei-kun!!’ Shinichi’s distant laughter was all the response the young magician received.  
  
November went by a little quick, filled with talks of Toichi’s scheduled show and preparations for it. When the day of the show finally came, those specially invited to take the front row were eager to set off once they sky grew a little dark on a fine Saturday evening. The Kudo family were all dressed up and ready to travel to the performance hall Toichi’s show was supposed to be hosted at.  
  
Yukiko in particular was very enthusiastic about the whole event and had dragged her husband through different sets of suits to wear until she was satisfied with a light grey one that wasn’t too eye catching, the woman herself wore a pretty midnight blue dress that flowed freely when she walked, along with it was a beautiful hair ornament of dazzling sapphires that went around half of her head and dangled like tears.  
  
 When Shinichi looked at his parents, he was pretty sure his mother only chose the grey suit for his father so that she could outshine him and have more people pay attention to her rather than the famous novelist, in fact he himself was also given a simple black suit with a red bowtie, not that he minded fading into the background with his father, his mother can grab all the attention she liked as long as she didn’t make much of a scene.

Though he still didn’t understand why they had to dress like this, they were only going out to see a magic show, then again they were also going to watch it in a fancy looking performance hall (Kaito had shown him a picture of the place once), he supposed they required some sort of dress code, added to that is the fact that Toichi’s shows in November were supposed to be seasonal themed to say goodbye to autumn and welcome the winter season, or at least that’s what he heard according to the magician himself when he came over to visit the Kudo mansion to talk to Yusaku.  
  
Now Shinichi wasn’t actually sure why the older Kuroba came one day but it seemed too serious to be about his show, in fact he asked Yusaku to talk with him somewhere private and after that the two of them locked themselves inside his father’s study. The young Kudo couldn’t make out what they were saying from the other side of the door, it was pretty suspicious and a little concerning but it must be some sort of adult thing that he probably won’t be interested in anyway….though….why didn’t they include his mother in their talk..?  
  
“Are you ready to go Shin-chan??” He blinked out of his thoughts when his mother draped a jacket over his shoulders, she frowned at him “What were you thinking about? Did something happen? Are you….do you not want to go?”  
  
“Oh, uh, it’s not like that Kaa-san I-“ He paused, coughing a little. The words seemed to pull against his teeth, he swallowed “-I was thinking about how cold it might be later, I don’t wanna get sick” He lied.  
  
Yukiko chuckled and pressed a kiss to his forehead while he slipped the jacket on “Silly me, how could I forget that you hate the cold? Oh well, that’s what the jacket is for but I expect you to leave it in the car when we get to the performance hall, I’m sure they would have turned on the heater for the guests” He smiled at his mother and took her hand once his father came down the stairs to get them all to the car.  
  
Shinichi grimaced at the chilly air that greeted them once they stepped out but the earlier conversation with his mother took up most of his thoughts. Why didn’t he say anything about Toichi-ojisan and his father’s suspicious meet up? He himself already felt that the talk must have been bad to warrant such secrecy between the two men. Even after the door of the study was opened they had acted as if nothing happened inside and proceeded to talk about current events in the library. Even that had felt like a cover up for something.  
  
Shinichi sent his mother an unreadable look from the backseat of their car, he should tell her but…something told him that he really shouldn’t, he couldn’t pin point why but he never pushed away his gut feeling about things like this. Besides, wouldn’t his father tell her anyway?

Though by the looks of it Yusaku didn’t seem to have done anything of the sort, that was concerning in itself. What was his father and the older Kuroba hiding? And was it only the two of them who knew? _‘Does Kaito know anything about this?’_ Shinichi figured that he’ll ask his friend, it was possible that Kaito might have seen something off about his dad, it could help him figure out….  
  
“Argh what?!” Shinichi hit himself on the side of his head.  
  
Yukiko looked back at him in concerned confusion “S-Shin-chan?? What was that about?”  
  
Shinichi blinked up at her and laughed nervously then waved his hands around “O-Oh! Nothing! Nothing Kaa-san! I just..there was a puzzle that I forgot about at home, I think I was close to figuring it out but since I don’t have it with me I just got a little bothered. I think I did wrong”  
  
Yukiko sighed and smiled exasperatedly at him “Just like your father….”

Yusaku shot her a quick amused glance “What’s that you’re implying?”  
  
Yukiko rolled her eyes and pushed his head to face forward “Eyes on the road darling” Meanwhile Shinichi silently berated himself, what was he doing? His father’s doings are none of his business so why was he being so nosy? Maybe it was nothing and he was just being paranoid, this is exactly what his father warned him about: Jumping to conclusions. Shinichi sighed and shook his head at himself, opting to look out the window instead to watch the trees shed the last of their leaves before the winter season came by.  
  
As distracting as the warm colored leaves are they just couldn’t keep his mind off the mystery behind what his father and Toichi might be hiding, it just didn’t make sense that his father kept so much from his own family, usually he was very open unless it was…..Shinichi shook his head harder this time, no, he really shouldn’t pry, his father always had a reason for doing a lot of things…..but it wouldn’t hurt to talk to Kaito about it right? He was just a little curious, someone else’s insights might just ease his thoughts, perhaps Toichi didn’t keep a lot from his son and Kaito might have heard about the topic he talked about with his own father, well, even if he didn’t maybe just sharing his thoughts with his friend could help him get his mind off it. Right? Isn’t that what people usually do? Talk about what troubles them to get it off their chest?  
  
Shinichi sighed, he had a sinking feeling that it wouldn’t help at all, he kept the troubling thought about his father aside…for now.  


* * *

  
  
When they reached their destination, Yusaku had to drive around a bit for an actual parking space. It seems a lot of people were lucky enough to get tickets to the show as well. It made for really hard to spot parking spaces but thankfully the lot was reserved for those who had tickets, all you had to do at that point was park your car, still with the sheer number of people attending it wasn’t a happy ride for anyone.  
  
Yusaku even almost rammed into someone when he was too busy looking around for a place to park, he yelled in surprise and slammed his breaks when he didn’t notice the other car coming his way, the driver of said car wasn’t too happy with the near collision either and honked his horn loudly “HEY! Be more careful will you?! We aren’t here to play bumper cars you know!!” The man had poked his head out of his window to berate the novelist.  
  
Yusaku opened his window to smile apologetically at the man “A-Ah, I’m terribly sorry!” The man scoffed and slid back into his car.  
  
The man scoffed “Just keep your eyes forward next time!” Was his last warning then he drove past their car.  
  
Shinichi was looking out the window when the car passed and blinked in surprise when he caught a glance of someone who looked familiar riding in the backseat. He shook his head and stared after the car from the rear window “Huh…?” Once his father moved the car again, Shinichi let the odd encounter drift to the back of his mind.  
  
Finally after a time they found a parking space, Yukiko stretched when she came out and Yusaku thanked the heavens that he was able to find a decent spot that at least wasn’t too far from the performance hall. Sure they would have to walk for a while to reach the building but at least it wasn’t at the way back of the lot.  
  
Shinichi hopped down from the backseat and immediately regretted leaving the warmth of the car, his teeth chattered miserably when a particularly strong gust of wind blew in, the little boy hugged himself and stared longingly at the car where he left his jacket by order of his mother, he glared at the suit he was wearing, the stupid jacket didn’t even help one bit. Yukiko noticed his mood and reached down to hold his hand, Shinichi looked up at her and she smiled “Don’t worry Shin-chan, we’ll be out of this cold as soon as we get to the performance hall, but for now please bear with it okay?” Shinichi sighed- watching his breath turn to mist in front of him- and nodded as the Kudo family began to make their way towards the building where the show was to take place.  
  
The building they approached looked very grand standing there with lights illuminating its face, a couple of huge posters running down from his roof to its base showcasing the performers who were to take the stage for that night. Shinichi immediately spotted the image of Toichi Kuroba on the center poster, posing with his beloved doves with one of them ‘magically’ appearing from his top hat.

The building was built in the shape of three arcs with the middle one being the highest of the three, tall columns acted as it’s supports with some medium ones on some of its second level balconies, the windows were long and elegant and people would be able to see the lobby from outside with its bright crystal chandeliers and velvet red curtains, letting many see a peek of the grandeur within that only those invited would be able to see firsthand.

Shinichi on the other hand thought it was a really nasty kind of flaunting, like the building taunted the folk who could only dream of entering it, it didn’t make him feel better about being one of those who actually _could_ enter.  
  
“Eri!!” He felt his mother let go of his hand and watched her run up the rest of the stairs to greet her friend at the entrance. Eri looked up from her daughter and smiled bright at her approaching friend.  
  
“Why hello princess of Teitan! Finally!” Eri pushed her hair back behind her ear elegantly as her friend stopped in front of her.  
  
Yukiko giggled and waved off the name “Sorry we took so long! As you can see parking was a little crowded” The ex-actress frowned and looked around in confusion “Hey…where’s Kogoro??”  
  
Eri huffed and crossed her arms at that “Ugh that fool sneaked away before I could stop him. I’m willing to bet that he’s playing mahjong somewhere” She sighed and shook her head in faint disappointment “In the end we had to come here by taxi because of him! Other than that he actually passed up a chance to come to such a show! Does he even realize how hard it is to gain tickets much less front row seat tickets for this??” Yukiko frowned when Eri’s features saddened with her next words “Honestly…he knew how excited Ran and I were about this, we were all supposed to come here as a family….” Then her expression shifted to annoyance and the sadness Yukiko saw was quickly pushed away “That jerk! Picking gambling over his own family!! The nerve!”  
  
The ex-actress patted her friend’s shoulder comfortingly “Oh well, it’s his loss right? This is a once and a lifetime thing after all” Eri smiled at her and Yukiko mirrored her expression.

Ran on the other hand was also a little sad that her father didn’t come with them, she had spent a good amount of time running around their house in search of the man only for her mother to tell her that he went out without telling either of them, it wouldn’t be enough to say how disappointed she was about that and now she just felt really bad because of it.

One of the reasons she was excited to go out and see the show was because she would see it with her parents, now though….”What’s with the face? You couldn’t shut up about this show, don’t tell me you aren’t going to watch anymore”  
  
She flinched when she realized that someone was in front of her, she smiled sadly when she realized who it was “Oh no, of course I’m still going to watch but…” Shinichi sighed at her, yes he knew why Ran looked so upset and part of him was a little annoyed that her old man would bail on them like that, he should have known that pulling something like that would hurt his daughter’s feelings.  
  
“Hey, we’re here to watch the show and have fun right? So why don’t you stop worrying for a while? It wouldn’t be nice to come here with such a sour mood, especially since the show’s theme is supposed to be a happy start of something new” Shinichi tried for distraction.  
  
Ran’s smile became a little less sad as Shinichi comforted her, she chuckled “Yeah, let’s do that”  
  
“Nice dress by the way…does it suck?” She laughed outright when Shinichi asked her that, of course he would know how she felt about wearing a fancy dress. Her mother was the one to pick out the red dress with the small bits of glitter that shone in the right light, it looked really good but…  
  
”I can’t breathe at all” Ran let a smile grace her features.  
  
Shinichi snickered then gestured at himself “I’m so stiff that I think it’s a miracle I can even put one foot in front of the other” The kids laughed and looked up at their parents who wore fancier looking clothing than theirs.  
  
“I don’t get why adults choose to wear stuff like this” Ran commented as the group all went in together, she stayed by Shinichi’s side as they entered the lobby “I would’ve wanted to come in my own going out clothes but mom told me that they wouldn’t allow it”  
  
Shinichi made a sympathetic noise while his mother presented their tickets to a guard “I think it’s silly that they have this whole dress code thing when the people are just gonna sit down the whole time doing nothing but watching. It’s like…a movie house for snobby people” Ran giggled but shushed him when they passed by a group of pretentious looking people, though it didn’t stop the little girl from laughing with him when they were far enough from the group.  
  
“By the way, where’s Kaito-kun? Didn’t he say he wanted to greet us when we came here?”  
  
“Dunno, he _should_ be around here somewhere, just keep an eye out for him I guess”  
  
“What? He didn’t tell you where he was??”  
  
“Why exactly are you assuming that I would know where that idiot is?” Shinichi said, giving Ran a weird look.  
  
Ran smiled knowingly to herself and shrugged at Shinichi “You two are pretty close”  
  
Shinichi frowned at her “So?” She didn’t answer him after that, it only confused him even more, when he tried to ask her again she just smiled and told him not to worry about it and help her look for Kaito. He wasn’t too happy with her for shirking him off like that but it was clear she would say nothing else so he just went with it.  
  
Currently they were still preparing the performance hall for the shows that were to take place, meaning the guests had to wait in the lobby for the meantime. The lobby itself was not a bad place to stay in for a while, high ceilings and chandeliers that bathed the room in a warm glow, red carpets laid down to lead patrons to where ever it was that was important, round tables with cushioned chairs surrounding it for guests who would like to sit and chat to pass the time, there were even a few bookshelves that contained books of different genres to entertain those who are waiting. Shinichi would have thought it was pretty great if he wasn’t so uncomfortable in his clothes, added that he saw that most of the decorations on the floor and walls were flowery (Something he was quickly getting sick of these days).  
  
Since they had nothing to do, the adults decided to take up temporary residence at one of the round tables, a server came by to offer them all tea and biscuits which they gladly accepted. Shinichi was about to take one of the offered biscuits when something hit him on the side of his head “Ow! What-?” He looked down at the floor and spotted a card. Curious, he picked it up and turned it around to see what it was- Queen of hearts, but the card’s ‘Q’ had been scratched off and replaced with a ‘P’ while on the negative white space of the card was a scribbled down word ‘hime-sama’. Shinichi instantly knew who it was that threw this card at him, and frankly he wasn’t at all surprised.  
  
The young Kudo looked around the lobby, eyes darting to and fro for anything that would give away the position of his troublesome friend, a flutter of wings caught his attention and he snapped his gaze up to the second level where he spotted a white dove perched on the railings of the second floor, a single white flower in her beak.

Shinichi smirked _‘Nami-chan’_ He thought after recognizing the young dove. As if hearing his thoughts Nami turned her head to peer at him with one eye, the dove flapped her wings and took off to a hallway to the right but not before depositing the white flower on the railings, a few patrons on the second floor were visibly surprised to suddenly have a dove flying in their direction and most had jumped to the side to avoid collision “Shinichi?” Said boy turned his head at the call, Ran tilted her head at him in question “What’s wrong??”  
  
He smiled reassuringly at her and hopped off his seat, pocketing the vandalized deck card in his pant pocket “I’m gonna go explore for a bit, maybe look for Kaito while I’m at it”  
  
Ran moved to get off her seat as well “I’m coming with you!”  
  
Shinichi shook his head at her “Hey there’s no need for that! Besides, you gotta stay to tell my parents where I might be, it wouldn’t be good if both of us went off and worried them” Ran opened her mouth to protest but Shinichi was already running towards the stairs leading up to the second floor, he looked back to wave at her “Just call for me! I’ll be staying around the second floor, see you later!!”  
  
“SHINI-!..chi….” The little girl faltered when she realized her friend was too far for him to hear her, she sighed exasperatedly as she watched him hurry up the stairs, pausing to pick something up at the railings then dart into a hallway and out of her sight. Ran pouted and nibbled on another biscuit, turning her attention towards the two mothers with her who seemed to be bombarding Yusaku with all sorts of questions, she slumped against her seat. Oh well, if Shinichi was doing his disappearing act she probably wouldn’t hear from him until later, still, it was annoying that he just ran off without her and left her alone to entertain herself.  
  
  
She idly wondered if he would actually find Kaito while he was off exploring.  
  
  
Shinichi on the other hand realized that the dark hallway actually had a few doors that lead to the balcony seats in the performance hall, it went on a little further into a small area that also had chairs and tables and doors that held the entrances to box seats, there were a few other guests loitering around but not as much as those in the lobby, not a lot of them interacted and most just sat around in what Shinichi would describe as a flaunty kind of sitting, nose in the air, chest held up and hands either on said chest, waving in the air or just still in the air as if placed on top of something invisible. He huffed at the sight.  
  
Too busy judging the pretentiousness that choked the room, Shinichi didn’t notice the hands that slowly crept up to him, one grabbing him and circling his waist while the other covered his mouth before he could make any sound of surprise.

Shinichi instantly struggled as he was dragged back into the dark hallway, the light of the guest area growing smaller in his vision, his captor opened a door and threw them both inside, Shinichi found himself against the closed door with his captor towering over his slumped form. Before he could strike back, his captor’s face slowly came into focus with the dim lights of the balcony seats, shimmering happy indigos paired with a familiar bright smile greeted him, he took off the hand covering his mouth and gave the person a flat glare “Kidnapping me?! Are you crazy?! You could’ve just asked me to come with you idiot magician!”  
  
Kaito snickered at him and knelt down to Shinichi’s level, he kept his hands on his friend’s chest to silently tell him not to get up “I wouldn’t have known if Ran-chan was with you! Glad to see that you managed to sneak away from her” Kaito spotted something in Shinichi’s grip, he smiled at it “You know, that flower isn’t like my roses, if you keep doing that you’ll probably get flower juice all over you”  
  
Shinichi loosened his grip on the flower and simply set it aside on the floor, he sighed at the magician “I’m surprised I _don’t_ have any flower juice on me considering how you’re my personal flower dispenser” Shinichi had expected the same white flower to appear in front of him again the moment he said that.  
  
Kaito’s smile at him held a warning “Don’t tell me where you saw it coming from you big party pooper” Shinichi rolled his eyes and accepted the flower, tucking it inside of his suit pocket where it quietly stayed as a spectator to whatever was to unfold the moment the two boys acted on their schemes.  
  
 “So? Why did you call me up here??” Shinichi frowned when he realized something and looked up at the door behind him “Wait…how did you get in here?? I thought they locked the doors before the guests could come in?” He narrowed his eyes suspiciously at his friend who had looked away at that moment “Kaito what did you do?”  
  
“Never mind that Shinichi!” At the unwavering suspicion in his friend’s eyes Kaito winced and guiltily looked at the floor “I..well…..I told you that I learn a lot of tricks from my dad right??” Shinichi tilted his head, gesturing him to continue. Kaito blew out air “Ahaha, um, he…you know I learned my conjuring and disappearing tricks from him, also some of my card tricks, the coin tricks are stuff I taught myself while he was watching but you know technically he taught me that too. Hey remember that stuff with the colored smoke?? Yeah I learned that from him recently when he gave me this whole lecture about smoke and mirrors-“  
  
“The point Kuroba” Shinichi interrupted his friend’s stalling, Kaito smiled nervously at him.  
  
“Just…don’t get mad?” He sighed and gestured at the door “Dad..you know…remember that escapist trick he did? I kinda..learned some escape tricks from him…..”  
  
“YOU LOCKPICKED THE DOOR?!” Shinichi’s mouth was instantly covered by the two hands that were on his chest.  
  
Kaito shushed him “Shh!! Jeez Shin-chan calm down! My dad’s backstage and he had my mom and me with him so technically I’m not trespassing! I’m just…coming back in from another entrance s’all!”  
  
Shinichi glared at him and took his hands off his mouth “You’re gonna get in trouble one day”  
  
Kaito smiled warmly at him and Shinichi was a little taken aback by it “I’ve got nothing to worry about if you’re there to bail me out right tantei-kun?”  
  
“Are you joking?! I’m not going to become a detective just so you can get in trouble and expect me to save your butt!”  
  
“I know I know, but just in case right?” Shinichi hit his shoulder, Kaito chuckled at it “Look, I just wanted to use some place private and the performance hall was empty and no one can get in, what better place than that right? Anywho, I’m also kinda hiding from someone…”  
  
“Let me guess…Aoko??”  
  
“Oh yeah, she came first before you and I think her and her dad are somewhere in the lobby, not really sure where but I _did_ see you, your parents, Ran-chan and her mom” Kaito paused when they both heard a passing conversation from the other side of the door, when the voices faded the young magician continued “Aoko actually found me first but I managed to get away from her, I expect that she’s looking for me right now” Then the young magician shook his head and turned a serious eye towards his friend “But enough about that! To answer your earlier question, I was hoping to run you through some meet up ideas!”  
  
Shinichi sighed inwardly, well he _did_ agree to this whole thing, although he thought it was a little silly to have their friends’ first meet up be some sort of elaborate prank at least it would end up as something they’ll remember for years to come. It isn’t everyday that people get to meet through a joke “Shoot then, what do you have in mind?” Kaito grinned at that and silently stood up to open one of the doors behind them, he peeked out into the hallway to check for anyone approaching, satisfied that no one seemed to be coming he closed the door again with a soft click and crouched back down to talk to his friend in hushed tones.  
  
“Okay, so I wanna get the grown-ups in this too. It’s gonna be a bit of a challenge but I’m sure between you and me we can pull it off just fine” Shinichi went a little wide eyed at that, he tugged at his collar.  
  
“The grown-ups?” He said a little shakily, suddenly he was a little unsure about this whole thing knowing that his friend had something planned with the adults involved “Kaito….I dunno about this, what if we get in a lot of trouble?” His friend simply patted his shoulder.  
  
“Trust me on this Shin-chan, we won’t get in that much trouble”  
  
“’That much trouble’?!”  
  
“Hey, I didn’t promise anything about getting off without a little bit of trouble! You should know that by now!” Shinichi rolled his eyes, of course he knew that agreeing to whatever convoluted scheme Kaito cooked up in that brain of his would have some sort of consequence, but it doesn’t help ease the fact that there would be a downfall to all of this.  
  
Shinichi blew out air and looked at Kaito from behind his fringe “As long as we don’t get grounded for two weeks again”  
  
“Oh psshaw! It’s nothing as serious as almost setting my house on fire, don’t worry!” Shinichi worried, he worried A LOT. He just hoped that he was enough to keep his friend from going overboard.

  
Soon after Shinichi had reluctantly agreed to listen to whatever it was Kaito had planned, the young magician began to shoot off his ideas for how they were supposed to get Aoko and Ran to meet without having them see each other prematurely.

Kaito had explained that he saw Aoko and her dad step out for a while so they currently weren’t in the lobby where Ran was, he wasn’t all that sure when they were about to get back but they had to make sure that Ran was out of the lobby by that time.

Shinichi suggested that Kaito should use Nami to call Ran out and into the second floor. Needless to say that Kaito defaced another deck card to use as a pseudo note to get Ran to come up.

The rest of the plan involved making use of the adults- something that Shinichi was still a little hesitant about doing- but from what he gathered they just needed to get them a little confused because coincidentally, Aoko had also worn a red dress, it was different if you were close enough but looked vaguely the same when far.  
  
Go figure  
  
Shinichi was a little freaked out by all the coincidences but Kaito took it all as a blessing for the success of the meet up. With the plan now set- and regulated to Shinichi’s standards of safety- the two boys quietly stepped out from the balcony and back into the dark hallway. Kaito locked the door behind them and grabbed Shinichi’s wrist as he looked around for any sign of people they knew, when no one came around the young magician dragged his friend to the entrance of the hallway but they hid behind a potted plant to keep from being seen by those in the lobby.  
  
The two looked down at the table where the three adults and Ran were seated at, by the looks of the young girl she wasn’t particularly happy about sitting still, sometimes she even shot glances at the second floor which forced the two boys to dart behind the plant again until she looked away, evidently she was very bored _‘Not for long’_ Shinichi thought as he glanced at Kaito’s grinning face, the young magician turned to his friend “You ready?” He asked as he clicked his tongue a few times and in came Nami from the hallway, the dove landed soundlessly on Kaito’s outstretched arm and he gave her the vandalized card turned note, she immediately took it in between her beak.  
  
“As ready as I’ll ever be” Shinichi replied and watched as Kaito directed two fingers at the table before Nami took off in flight. They heard a few startled gasps from the guests down at the lobby, signaling for the two boys to make their escape. Shinichi would have protested when Kaito immediately grabbed his wrist again to pull him to the fire exit, but they had to stay quiet so he opted to just hit the magician on the head with a hand chop.  
  
Kaito hissed at him “What?!”  
  
“Stop dragging me idiot!” That was the last thing Shinichi had said as he closed the fire exit door behind them and the boys were out of sight.  
  
Back at the lobby, Nami circled the table that Kaito had directed her to. Some of the guests took her appearance as something of an early performance to get ready for the show and had clapped when she did small spinning tricks in the air. In reality, it was all a distraction for the dove to quickly deposit the card near Ran’s chair when she flew low in breakneck speed, the dove quickly flew out of sight again when her job was done, leaving behind some delighted lobby goers who applauded her exit.  
  
Ran was surprised when she spotted the card that the dove left behind; she too was enamored by its small performance and hadn’t noticed the card until Nami had gone.

Flicking a quick glance towards the adults with her who were now busy talking about the impromptu show, she picked up the card without them noticing and found that there were writings on its negative spaces “’Would you mind a bird’s eye view? – K.K.’?” Ran frowned at the card and looked around her, as if hoping to spot who could have left such a card. Her eyes landed back on the second floor and was surprised to spot the dove from earlier peering at her close to a potted plant, she tilted her head and the dove did the same then turned around to take something from the potted plant: It was a yellow rose.  
  
Ran had a feeling that Mr. ‘K.K.’ was in fact a cheeky young magician she recently came to know, she wondered if he had done the same with Shinichi and was now calling both of them up to the second floor for some reason, now that she thought about it Shinichi hadn’t returned so that must mean that Kaito found him already and they were just waiting for her. For what though and why in secret, she had no idea “Kaa-san” She called, Eri turned to look at her in question “Yes sweetie?”  
  
“I’m gonna go look for Shinichi, he said he was on the second floor, is that okay??” Eri looked a little hesitant to let her little girl go off alone, especially since Ran had such a tendency to get lost so easily.  
  
She turned to look to her friends and found that they didn’t seem too concerned with Ran’s request “I think it’s fine Eri, the second floor isn’t actually big, even though the building looks enormous we’re only in the middle building, the other two have different entrances and they aren’t attached to each other. All Ran-chan should find up there is the waiting area for box seat and balcony patrons. Besides, my Shin-chan should be around” Yukiko explained.  
  
Eri bit her lower lip and looked back to her child “…As long as you remember our table?”  
  
Ran nodded and hopped down her chair “Yeah! I just gotta get Shinichi back before he does something dumb” She walked away from them with a skip in her step “I’ll come back quickly kaa-san!!” She called over her shoulder and went up the stairs under the watchful gaze of her mother before Yukiko dragged her into another topic.

Ran went up to the potted plant where she last saw the dove and was happy to find that it was still waiting there, upon a closer look on the rose she could recognize it as the same kind of thorn less ones that Kaito liked to pop into existence “Hi there” She slowly walked up to the dove, careful as to make sure that she didn’t spook it.

Unbeknownst to her, Nami wouldn’t have been bothered if she suddenly pounced. Her owner was already such an uncontrollable ball of movement that sudden actions didn’t surprise her anymore, even when she was such a young dove, so the bird just stared at the little girl in curiosity at her gentle and quiet movements.  
  
“Are you one of Kuroba-kun’s pets??” Ran felt a little silly for talking to the dove but she wanted it to get used to the sound of her voice, she heard something about that in a zoo actually. The trainers usually talked to the birds so that they wouldn’t get scared of their voices.

She inwardly squealed when she was close enough to touch the dove and it didn’t shy away from her petting, she supposed that if it really was Kaito’s dove he must have trained her well enough, especially since he got her to give her a card with a message on it, she didn’t even know birds could do that. Speaking of the magician…she didn’t see him anywhere, that was weird, wasn’t he the one to call her up here? “I wonder where Kaito-kun is…” She mumbled her thoughts. Ran was yet again surprised when Nami suddenly flew up and darted into the hallway “H-Hey, wait!” She ran after the dove and was now out of sight for anyone in the lobby.  
  


* * *

  
  
Inspector Ginzo Nakamori grumpily marched back into the building entrance with an annoyed frown on his face. Earlier he had been forced to get back to his car because some punk thought that he could get away with hijacking it since it was one of those that had the unfortunate luck of getting shoved to the back of the parking lot, therefore usually out of sight and could easily be taken away.  
  
Ginzo only managed to catch the kid in the act because he thought he had left the tickets for the show on his dashboard. He muttered less than pleasant words about the security of the parking lot _‘If these damn fools expect that no one would try anything knowing the people coming here are well off, then it wouldn’t have made any difference if they were fired!’  
  
_ In fact it was the officer himself who apprehended the delinquent who tried to hijack his car which consequently led to him having to chase the troublemaker around then handcuff him after he had promptly jumped off from a phone booth to tackle the kid to the ground, it had ripped the sleeve of his suit a little and that had only managed to annoy him even more. After which he located the guards who were supposedly looking after the parking lot, he promptly began to loudly berate them about not doing their jobs well enough and shoved the would-be carjacker into their arms rather harshly, gave them another good stern talking to then turned around in a huff to his car to check for the tickets.  
  
His daughter Aoko had stayed behind when he ran off to apprehend the delinquent, she wasn’t too happy that her daddy ‘ran away and did police stuff on his day off’ He apologized to her of course but she understood that it wouldn’t have been good to let the carjacker get away. He might try it with some other car.

Aoko was proud of her dad for being able to catch the bad guy so quick, she even told him as much and Ginzo had his mood lifted with his daughter’s praise. They found out that he actually had been carrying their tickets in his inner suit pockets, Aoko chided him for not double checking himself and making them both come out into the cold again then walk for so long, all for nothing!

“You could have just stayed here, there were plenty of chairs” Ginzo told his daughter when she finally came to his side at the entrance.  
  
Aoko shook her head “Aoko would have been all alone! All because baKaito left Aoko to probably do something stupid!”  
  
The officer chuckled “Well, Kaito-kun _did_ invite us to his father’s show, perhaps his father needed his help with something?”  
  
Aoko took his words into consideration, the little girl pouted “Still….I didn’t want to wait around on my own”  
  
“That’s understandable but you wouldn’t have gotten tired if you didn’t come with me”  
  
“But tou-san wouldn’t have come back so quick if Aoko-chan didn’t tell him to come back quickly! Tou-san would’ve chased the bad man longer if tou-san didn’t have Aoko-chan waiting for him in the cold!!”  
  
Ginzo laughed at his daughter’s cutesy way of speaking, he ruffled her hair and she snapped at him for messing it up, he only smiled “Well why don’t you go look for Kaito-kun? He must be looking for you now too, I’m sure he doesn’t want you to miss his father’s show, after all didn’t you tell me that he kept insisting on us coming?”  
  
Aoko nodded and looked around the lobby “Before baKaito left me, he said that I should find him in the lobby….he didn’t say much after that though…”  
  
“There’s your answer then, I’ll be around the chairs, just don’t leave the lobby without me knowing okay?” Ginzo gave his little girl a squeeze on the shoulder before sending her off to look for her friend.

The officer sighed to himself and looked to the glass doors of the building that let the patrons see the parking lot from a distance, he frowned and hoped that those ‘damn fool guards’ were actually doing their job right this time and that he didn’t have to go out again to make sure that his car wasn’t getting stolen.

With that unhappy thought, the officer made a beeline for the comfiest looking couch in the room, he was eternally grateful that a server came by with tea. At least it would help him relax his nerves a little.  
  
Aoko stood around the lobby with a frown on her face. She hasn’t seen heads or tails of her friend ever since she started looking. She was slowly beginning to think that maybe for some weird reason or another he was avoiding her? Not that it made any sense, wasn’t she supposed to meet new people here like he said? She huffed and crossed her arms “Where are you baKaito?” She turned around again and continued her search around the lobby.  
  
Kaito turned around from the corner he was hiding at, the darkness making him hard to spot, he looked to where Aoko was heading then leaned to the side “That’s her” He whispered.  
  
Shinichi popped out from behind a column close to where the young magician was hiding, Kaito snickered when he caught his friend gaping a little at the sight of the other girl “Are…are you sure Ran didn’t come down?”  
  
“Nami hasn’t returned to me yet, she’s probably still looking for us upstairs” Shinichi blew out air, he couldn’t look away from the Ran look alike that was Kaito’s friend, Aoko Nakamori. He was still in the middle of accepting that Kaito and he had similarities in their looks, but now, knowing that and that Kaito was friends with a girl who looked like _Ran_ who was a _girl_ he was _friends_ with…Now who wouldn’t be a little scared with that knowledge? “Jeez…this is really starting to freak me out”  
  
Kaito winked at him and transferred over to where Shinichi was hiding “If you’re freaked out just wait until Ran-chan meets Aoko. Now come on, this isn’t gonna move itself along” Shinichi pursed his lips and watched his friend sneak away, he shot one last glance at Aoko before hurrying after Kaito, the plan was about to be set in motion, not that Shinichi liked it one bit. Though he can’t really do anything about it, he was an accomplice now after setting up all those….  
  
“Shin-chan hurry up! We gotta do this quick” Shinichi shook his thoughts away, might as well commit and see this through the end....and hopefully not get grounded.  
  
Aoko was starting to get impatient, after having her friend constantly in her ear and asking her to come, it felt a little rude to leave her on her own when she actually agreed to come. She expected him to at least accompany her while waiting, instead he runs off and tells her to just look for him later? He was going to get it when she finally finds him, probably in the form of her shoe in his face.  
  
Aoko sighed and looked around again, she caught a faint glimmer of something and was startled to find that it was a mirror, the little girl approached it and gazed on her own frowning face _‘Odd…I didn’t notice that before…’_ She shrugged and her reflection did the same, she figured that she was probably too busy looking for her idiotic friend to have noticed. With that the little girl went off again, never noticing how the mirror was slowly being pulled away from the wall once she had gone.  
  
“Ugh, all this effort for their meet up? Why couldn’t we have just introduced them to each other like normal people?” Shinichi let go of the piece of string he was pulling while Kaito kept watch on his friend and for Ran who was still loitering around the second floor.  
  
Kaito smirked at his friend “’Cause that’s boring” He reasoned.  
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes “Whatever, you and your dramatic flairs…when I said that I didn’t want to tell Ran, I was hoping to just you know..lead her down somewhere Nakamori-san is and have them bump into each other”  
  
“Literally or figuratively?”  
“A little of both but you get my point!”  
  
Kaito patted his shoulder and motioned for him to start walking with him “Relax hime-sama, I won’t ask you to do much else. After all, we don’t want to ruin your perfect hands am I right?”  
  
Shinichi kicked him for that “Okay so why don’t you try lugging around your stupid mirror? _Without anyone noticing_ might I add?”  
  
“Tsk tsk Shin-chan! A magician is a master of misdirection, do you doubt my skills?” Even so, Kaito didn’t take up the burden of moving the mirror around with them, much to the annoyance of Shinichi. They continued on like that for a time: When Aoko would pass by places where people usually walked by, they would subtly set up a mirror where she could see herself, the little girl didn’t really give it much mind but it was obvious she was starting to find it weird that there were mirrors everywhere, sometimes she would even look twice at one but those were usually the mirrors the lobby already had.  
  
In the end she didn’t actually give it much thought as she was too focused on finding her friend, although she would come back to the spots where the mirrors were once or twice, luckily Kaito was quick to read her movements and had Shinichi set up the mirrors again before she could reach her destination. Aoko was stuck in a circle of catching a glimpse of herself on reflective surfaces.  
  
When Kaito deemed everything ready, he told Shinichi that they were ready to move on to the next part of the plan “Okay, so the first performance is going to start soon” Kaito had them stash the mirror away in the fire exit for the meantime, they made their way up until they reached the second floor again, quickly darting past the space between the door and the right hallway where they could talk “They’ll be asking the guests to come in to take their seats, this has to be done right Shin-chan, you should know _exactly_ when to act, timing is everything and this would either make or break the plan you got it?”  
  
“Yeah I know, as long as you hold up your end I’ll do my best on mine” The two boys nodded at each other, they shook hands on it and parted ways, Kaito going down to the lobby while Shinichi made his way to the waiting area of the second floor. There he found Ran sitting on a chair with Nami who she was happily petting, the dove caught sight of the young Kudo and flew over to where he was, she landed on his head and began to ruffle it up a little, Shinichi winced “Hi Nami-chan”  
  
The dove cooed at him then flew away again just as Ran came over “Shinichi! There you are!! Do you know how long I’ve been looking for you?” She looked over his form to catch a glimpse of Nami disappearing into another hallway, she turned her attention back to her friend with a question “Did that dove belong to Kaito-kun?”  
  
“Yeah..that was Nami, Kaito got her when he was five. I saw her earlier”  
  
“Oh! Then that means Kaito-kun called you up here too? Did he give you a card?”  
  
Shinichi nodded at her while subtly glancing down at his watch, a few more minutes “The idiot isn’t around though, I went around looking for him, no luck”  
  
Ran sighed and shrugged at her friend “I wonder why he called us though….”  
  
“We’ll never know now, the show’s about to start anyway, we’ll probably see him there since he’ll be seated up front with us too. I’ll still give him a good talking to for wasting our time though. Come on, let’s just go back” He turned to walk back to the lobby and Ran followed close behind him. Shinichi hoped she didn’t actually see through his lying because honestly he was feeling a little nervous about pulling off the next part.  
  
“Aoko!!” Kaito called for his friend, a happy smile on his face. When the magician came close to the girl though, he was suddenly assaulted by furious kicks. He managed to dodge them easily and silently thanked Shinichi for using him as a human beanbag numerous times before.  
  
Aoko on the other hand was glaring at him, she reached forward and gripped onto his suit and began to shake him violently “Where have you been baKaito?!” She demanded “I’ve been looking for you since forever! I’m tired already and I’ve been alone and it’s your fault for leaving me like that!!”  
  
Kaito raised his arms up in surrender and tried to get his friend’s death grip off him “Aaa! Sorry! Aoko-chan sorry!! Tou-san had called me for something and I couldn’t just not go you know??” He felt her shaking falter at that until she finally stopped, her grip loosening enough for him to step out of it.  
  
Aoko pouted at him and crossed her arms over her chest “Even so! You could have just told me your dad needed you instead of just running off on me like that! It was rude…”  
  
Kaito smiled sadly and pulled his friend into a one armed hug, Aoko ignored him “Hey…I’m sorry okay? That _was_ rude of me to run from a lady like that” She huffed but there was a twinge of red on her face, Kaito grinned at that “Why don’t I make it up to you then? Anything you want, just name it”  
  
Aoko spared a small peek at her friend at that, a devious smile creeping up on her face “Anything?”  
  
Kaito laughed nervously “Within reason of course”  
  
She hummed thoughtfully and turned to look at her friend in contemplation “You promise that you’ll do it?”  
  
“Cross my heart and hope to die milady!” He did just that.  
  
Aoko smiled “Then I guess you owe me one, I don’t wanna use it now, I might need it”  
  
Kaito smiled back at her “Fine by me” He spotted Shinichi and Ran coming down the stairs and he quickly maneuvered Aoko to walk with him on his right side just as they were to pass by the other two kids. He began to chat with Aoko to distract her but he smirked inwardly when he saw her gaze flicker up to the other pair when they passed by them, he held his breath for her reaction but was pleased when she just shook her head and went back to talking with him. Good.  
  
Ran blinked and looked around when she caught something from the corner of her eye “I could have sworn…”  
  
Shinichi had just finished fixing his hair again by the time they reached the table where their parents were, he looked at her in confusion “Is something wrong Ran?”  
  
She looked back to her friend then behind her again, when she couldn’t spot what she was looking for she shook her head “Uh..no, I just thought I saw something weird….” Shinichi sighed at that, biting back the nervousness crawling up his throat. Looks like Ran hadn’t noticed _“Attention ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin, please fall in line in an orderly fashion and present your tickets at the entrance of the performance hall, thank you”_ The announcement flipped a switch in the lobby and people began to flock to the doors.  
  
The Kudo parents and Eri stood up from their seats and called their children to their sides “Oh finally…any longer and I wouldn’t have made it” Yukiko sighed as Yusaku took out their tickets from his pockets.  
  
 “Well we better hurry or we’ll be at the end of the line” Yusaku ushered his family forward when he spotted that most of the patrons were starting to lengthen said line.  
  
Eri on the other hand stayed back to talk to her daughter “Ran-chan, why were you speaking to that stranger?” Ran blinked at her mother and thought back to when she could have talked to someone….maybe she was talking about that man she spoke to from the second floor?  
  
“Oh uh, I was asking if he might have seen Shinichi around, I’ve been looking everywhere and I couldn’t find him, so I thought someone must have seen him”  
  
Eri frowned but let the matter go “Just don’t make it much of a habit okay?” Ran nodded and followed her mother to catch up with the Kudo family at the line, though she never stopped to think about how her mother could have seen her talking to the stranger in the waiting room of the second floor.  
  
Ginzo woke up startled from the sudden announcement that echoed in the room, the officer blinked the sleep away from his eyes and yawned a little. He looked around in confusion before remembering that he came to attend a show with his daughter…speaking of Aoko, wasn’t that her? And why was she with that lady?? The officer frowned and rubbed at his eyes, peering at his daughter who was at some strange woman’s side, he shook his head “Aoko!”  
  
He called but was surprised when the little girl didn’t respond, he sighed, what in the world was she- “Tou-san you fell asleep??” He looked down in surprise at the sound of his daughter’s voice, he gaped a little at her then looked back up at the woman who had his daughter at her side, he blinked twice in surprise when he saw that there was actually a young boy with the woman, maybe he wasn’t all that awake after all?  
  
“Why did you shout? Aoko-chan was right here”  
  
Ginzo laughed nervously and patted his daughter on the head “Sorry sorry, I was just a little groggy…I swore I saw you-“ He cut himself off with a head shake “Nothing, let’s just get in line before it becomes too long okay?” He stood up and Aoko immediately darted to the line before he could even take two steps forward, he smiled at the sight and followed after her.

Unbeknownst to him, Eri had caught him staring at her daughter, the woman glared suspiciously at him but was unable to for long because Shinichi suddenly came between her and her daughter, spouting something about how great the building looked and whoever built it must be really proud, when she looked back to where the man was he was already gone, she thinned her lips into a line and kept a hand on her daughter’s shoulder.

Whoever that man was, he better think twice about whatever he was planning.  
  
Shinichi on the other hand was heaving in a breath, Eri had almost seen Aoko, he swallowed thickly and was happy to see that she hadn’t, although…the way she looked at Ginzo- “Isn’t this exciting Shinichi?!” Ran interrupted his thoughts “Well….you’ve seen one of Toichi Kuroba’s shows before but still!” He tried to smile at her as they approached the entrance to the performance hall, he kept a look out for Kaito should he ever find trouble on his end.  
  
“I guess” He answered absentmindedly as they entered the hall and looked for their seats.  
  
Shinichi had expected that Kaito would be seated somewhere far from where they were seeing as it was his initial idea to set this whole thing up. Ran was a little disappointed that the young magician wouldn’t be around but the hall had already dimmed by the time they took their proper seats. Shinichi spotted the Nakamori family taking a seat close to Kaito, he had yet to see Chikage and wondered where she was but he supposed that it was better this way. He couldn’t really see much else though since the hall finally darkened for the stage to take all the lighting, the first performance began.  
  
The first act was supposed to be a warm up, they were most of the usual things: Dancing and some singing. The performers were pretty good but it didn’t really appeal much to Shinichi who had begun to lean against his armrest heavily, he looked to his side and saw that Ran was very much enraptured by the songs about new life and interpretive dances about the end of the autumn season, he grumbled unhappily when a singer began to reach a really high note, he winced as she somehow began to sound like some sort of singing mouse but apparently the audience loved it because someone clapped and was quickly followed by more people.  
  
The young Kudo glanced at his watch when a stage light shone bright enough for him to see it, only half an hour had passed “Psst!” Shinichi startled at the sound coming directly behind him, he whipped his head around and almost knocked heads with a certain magician.  
  
“Wha-?!” Kaito clapped a hand over his mouth and shushed him, his pointer finger pressed to his lips. The young magician made a motion for him to exit the building before he slunk away and out of sight.  
  
Shinichi turned his head forward again and sighed loudly, Ran looked away from the stage to frown at him “That’s not nice Shinichi, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean you can act so rude” He ignored her comment and hopped off his chair.  
  
“I’m going to the bathroom” He quietly announced then ran off to the direction of the exit.  
  
Ran huffed at him “He doesn’t have any appreciation for this kind of thing….” Though she quickly disregarded her friend’s lack of taste when a couple of dancers entered the stage to accompany the singers in their song, completely wiping away her previous thoughts.  
  
Once outside and back in the quiet lobby, Shinichi wasted no time to run up to his friend who was waiting for him on one of the couches “I’ve been expecting you” Kaito said, stroking what looked to be Nami.  
  
Shinichi rolled his eyes “Stuff it, what are we here for?” The young magician sighed and let his beloved dove go and fly off to who knows where.  
  
“Aw don’t be like that Shin-chan, this is supposed to be fun!”  
  
“Not when you have to drag a huge frickin’ mirror around a large lobby!”  
  
Kaito raised his hands as a sign of peace “Okay, okay! But we-“ A glare, Kaito chuckled nervously, fingering his collar “-I-I mean _you_ don’t have to do anything like that again, promise. Our main objective now is to let them see each other…” He leaned forward and smiled conspiratorially “… _without_ seeing each other”  
  
Shinichi made a face at that and crossed his arms “And how are we supposed to do that?”  
  
“Well it won’t be hard!” Kaito jumped off the couch and motioned for Shinichi to walk with him “I know you know by now why we had to do the whole mirror thing with Aoko”  
  
“She thought me and Ran were a mirror right?”  
  
“Absolutely Shin-chan!” A victorious grin etched into Kaito’s face as he continued “When the first intermission comes, it’ll be up to us to get them to see just a _little bit_ of each other in the crowd”

The young magician gestured at the whole room “This isn’t the first time my dad has performed here, I know for a fact that the first intermission doesn’t come until _much_ later, by then lots of people will be itching to get out and stretch their legs”

Shinichi paled at little at that thought, no intermission until later huh? He won’t lie when he says he’ll probably be one of the more eager folk to get out of the hall and stretch their legs. Kaito didn’t notice his expression because he just went on “Naturally I’ll be with Aoko and you have Ran-chan. I’ll try to keep to my area over here” He gestured at the left side of the lobby “And yours is the right one” He jerked his head to the very area “We’ll have meeting points where Aoko and Ran should be able to see each other but not quite with the crowd surrounding them, you should only stay in one area for ten seconds okay?”  
  
“Kaito…” Shinichi said, suddenly feeling a little tired. Kaito hummed innocently “Yes Shin-chan?”  
  
“Have I ever told you that you’re crazy?” The young magician grinned at him and fell to the side to lean heavily against his friend.  
  
“No, you only ever asked if I was but it was dutifully implied!” Shinichi groaned a little and shook his head.  
  
“Whatever, just show me those meeting points before I change my mind..” Kaito was all too happy to comply.  
  
When Shinichi got back to his seat, Ran had noticed that there was a slight drag in his movements, she poked his arm until he made a pitiful sounding hum of acknowledgement “Is there…are you okay?” She whispered as to not disturb the others.  
  
Shinichi waved a hand “Nothing I…just hit my head a little, there was this rat that took me by surprise…” When he felt a card hit him on the head, he wasn’t the least bit surprised. Ran was a little confused but she shrugged it off as nothing.

As Kaito had told him there were a few more acts to go before intermission, at least the acrobatic one was entertaining and certainly captivating with all their daring stunts on stage.

The one Shinichi didn’t appreciate as much were the fire dancers, since his seat was at the front he could feel the warmth of the flames they were handling, though he didn’t like the cold outside the hall had the heater on and the fires were only making it hotter, that and eerily warlike flashbacks to his and Kaito’s mishap in the kitchen assaulted his mind, causing him to shrink into his seat every time a fire dancer spun a torch around too close to the front row like a toy.  
  
When intermission _did_ come he was all too relieved to get off his seat despite what he knew was coming _‘Time to pull off something stupid’_ “Hey Ran” He looked up at his friend and helped her off her chair.  
  
“Yes Shinichi?” With a small exhale he managed a sheepish smile, he folded his hands behind him and subtly clicked off his watch and slip it into his pant pocket (Something Kaito had insisted on him practicing from the start, which confused him at first but now he knew the reason why).  
  
“I uh….this is a little embarrassing…..” He started off, trying to stall a little as he watched Kaito lead Aoko away to another exit opposite theirs “Look uh…there isn’t any other way to say this but I…when I went out and you know…that rat that startled me??” At Ran’s slow confused nod he lifted up his wrist and pulled down his suit sleeve “I…lost my watch somewhere and I can’t…” Ran choked back a laugh, which helped in his acting skills since she probably thought he was an idiot, he blushed and ducked his head at her reaction, selling the whole ‘I need help but I don’t know how to ask’ act he was trying to put up even more.  
  
Ran shook her head with a smile and patted him comfortingly on the back “Say no more, sure I’ll help you look” He smiled at that and grabbed her wrist.  
  
“Great! Let’s go! I don’t want someone to find it and steal it” He ran off with her much to her and their parents’ surprise, Ran let out a startled yelp but Shinichi just made sure to put enough space between them and their parents, he glanced back with a wince when he noticed Eri stand up. Hopefully the woman won’t be able to catch up to them in the lobby.  
  
Kaito on the other hand didn’t have an excuse like Shinichi did, the only thing he told Aoko was _“There was this thing I saw, you should look at the thing! Come on!!”_  

Which honestly wasn’t so weird and Aoko would have expected him to do something like that, he then grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her away and into the lobby shouting, protesting and hitting him over the head.

Not that he minded because he was pretty used to her by now. He practically shoved her through the crowd of people and into the lobby where he immediately darted to his side of the room, he looked around him for their meeting points and was pleased to know that a number of people liked loitering around them, he started to drag Aoko into the first one “ _What_ exactly are we looking for baKaito?!”  
  
Kaito stopped pulling her around and positioned her on the spot “It’s uh…it’s a weird thing! You can’t miss it, when you see it you’ll be all like ‘whaaaaa???’” He put his arms out in what he deemed to be a position of unfathomable confusion.  
  
Aoko crossed her arms and gave the young magician a flat pointed look “Okay but _what does it look like?”_  
  
Kaito yelled suddenly, making her jump in her skin in shock, the boy pointed frantically at something behind her “Whaaaa?!” He exclaimed but she only blinked in surprise. A flicker of exasperation fitted over Kaito’s eyes, he pointed harder “ _Whaaaaa?!”_ He said with more emphasis and astonishment.  
  
Aoko’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion but she looked up at where he was pointing “I don’t see-?” His finger suddenly darted off behind her again.  
  
“You missed it!! Look over there! LOOK!” Kaito shouted.  
  
Aoko whirled around but Kaito had moved his finger again and she tried to follow it once more only for it to once again reposition “Kaito where-?!”  
  
“Aoko you’re missing the weird thing come on!” He pushed her by the shoulders and began to move to the next meeting point just as Ran’s gaze flickered to the side and saw a glimpse of Aoko, she frowned and turned back to her friend who was looking around the room.  
  
“Eh..Shinichi…..” The tone of her voice made him look up, he dashed away his nervousness as he met her eyes “What? Did you see my watch??” Shinichi asked.  
  
Ran shook her head and looked back to the other side of the room “I thought….it was weird…”  
  
Shinichi sucked in a breath and laughed nervously “Seriously Ran? I’m asking you for help here, don’t just get distracted! My parents will kill me if they found out that I lost my watch” Ran thinned her lips and looked behind them again “But I thought I saw-“  
  
“OH HEY! Wait I think I remember where I must have lost it!! Come on let’s go I think I saw it on the floor over there!” He grabbed her hand and started to walk but he felt her pull him back.  
  
“But-“  
  
“OH MY GOD! Someone kicked it oh noooo! Ran hurry!!” He heard her sputter then sigh and let herself be dragged off by him, he made it to the second point but he saw Kaito frantically making slicing motions with his hand across his neck from the corner of his eye just as Aoko turned around to look directly at where they were.  
  
Shinichi paled and shoved Ran away from the meeting point, she shouted in surprise at him “Shinichi what was that for-?!”  
  
“AH THIEF!” He shouted, pointing frantically behind her and she stiffened “I saw someone pick up my watch and run!! LET’S GET ‘IM!” Ran wasted no time turning around to run after a nonexistent thief, Shinichi darted away from Aoko’s gaze but surely she had noticed his red dressed friend because her eyes followed where Ran was heading until Kaito sent her off again on their own wild goose chase.  
  
Most of the intermission was spent like that, the two boys leading the girls around in a circle on all the various agreed upon meeting points, the two girls had seen glimpses of each other and it was evident that they were starting to become suspicious and perhaps a little afraid.

Shinichi felt a little dumb for having to shout out randomly from time to time just to get Ran off one meeting point and to the next, he even saw some adults giving him the stink eye, someone even called out _“Hooligan!”_ After he had once again screamed at nothing to get Ran going.

Kaito meanwhile was having the best time, he was sure that he was starting to get Aoko dizzy, in fact he _did_ make her dizzy by spinning her around when she almost saw Shinichi who had stood out in the open gaping at his surroundings because he had momentarily lost Ran, it was really funny actually since Shinichi saw him and began to flail his arms frantically, asking him for help, he only laughed.  
  
Unknown to them, two adults had also joined the fray, Ginzo had stepped out because his daughter hadn’t gone back since the start of the intermission, he wasn’t all that concerned since he knew that the young Kuroba was with her but it didn’t hurt to check. He was a little surprised to find her all alone and looking around for something, he looked around himself to see if the Kuroba boy was around, a little disappointed that the boy had run off on his daughter again.  
  
“Aoko” He called but surprisingly she didn’t respond, he frowned “Aoko!” He tried again but she didn’t even turn to look at him, _that_ made him confused. The officer pushed past a few people, muttering apologies as he did so “Aoko!” He made a grab at her but she only sped off to who knows where, he gaped, what was his daughter up to and why wasn’t she responding to him? He moved to follow after her again.  
  
On the other side of the room, Eri stood mouth open in shock as the strange man from earlier made a grab at her daughter, she saw Ran’s expression as she fled from his grasp in time, she looked worried and was looking around cautiously (or that’s what it looked like to her). The woman scowled at the man’s head, _how dare he lay a hand on her daughter!_ Maybe he threatened her little girl earlier when she saw him talking to her and now…now he was coming after her! That was all Eri needed to push past other people and get to the man before he could even think about harming her daughter.  
  
Shinichi on the other hand was legitimately starting to panic because he couldn’t see where Ran is anymore, Kaito had seen as much and had now taken to keeping Aoko in one place for as long as he could while keeping an eye out for the other girl _‘Why did I look away?!’_ He looked around again and sighed in relief when he saw Ran standing around not too far from where he was, he started forward “Ra-!” He started but then choked on air when he recognized who was coming towards her. Aoko’s dad. Shinichi froze in place _‘Oh kami-sama…’  
_  
Ran was starting to feel a little annoyed, where exactly was Shinichi’s watch? First he said he saw it on the floor, then there was a thief, then that thief left but dropped the watch into a potted plant, that potted plant was taken away by a janitor, the watch fell under a table, someone kicked it and on and on did the journey of the watch go. She was starting to think that something was up, other than that she kept seeing…was it a mirror, she- “There you are!”  
  
She startled at the new voice, she turned around and saw a man approaching her, she didn’t know him “Huh?”  
  
“The intermission’s about to end, Kaito-kun’s father is coming up in the second act right? We should hurry back. I don’t know why that Kuroba boy left you again but we’ll have a small chat with him later, right now I think it’s about time you stop going around all willy nilly” Oh, well, that was nice of the man to say but she wasn’t really sure why he was telling _her,_ or why he thought she was with Kaito-kun (Though she supposed Shinichi and Kaito _did_ look somewhat alike…) _.  
  
_ Ran blinked in surprise when the man went over and began to usher her back into the entrance of the lobby “W-Wait! Mister-?!”  
  
Ginzo looked down at that, surprise flickering in his expression. He finally took a good close look at the girl and found that she wasn’t his daughter, his eyebrows shot to his hairline “Wait…you’re not-“  
  
“HANDS OFF MY DAUGHTER!!” Was the only thing Ginzo heard before a fist connected with his face, sending the man falling to the ground with a loud thud. The patrons in the lobby made startled noises at the scene, the commotion making others who stayed in the hall look out to see what the fuss was about.  
  
Ran gasped and looked up at her mother “KAA-SAN?!”  
  
The two boys who had stopped to see what was happening paled at the sight, they met up again around the vicinity of the scene, Shinichi shot Kaito a panicked glance which was mirrored by his friend “Ah..” Shinichi started.  
  
“…whoops…..” Kaito finished.  
  
They started to tip toe away from the scene just as they spotted the Kudo parents and Chikage step out from the hall and run to the cause of the commotion “Eri?!” Yukiko called and grasped at her friend’s shoulders, staring down at the dazed man on the floor fearfully.  
  
“What happened?” Yusaku asked, kneeling down beside the man to slowly help him up. Ginzo groaned and held his head in one hand.  
  
“That man was going to kidnap my daughter!!” Eri held Ran close who had widened her eyes at what her mother said “What?!”  
  
 Just then, Aoko came darting in and instantly came to her father’s side, panic and fear in her eyes “Tou-san!! TOU-SAN!! Are you okay?!”  
  
“ _WHAT?!_ ” Aoko looked up at the person who had shouted, her mouth flew open in surprise at the mirror image that copied her expression. For a moment it was silent as the two girls stared each other down, even the adults were shocked at the sight of two identical girls. And then, the screaming started, Aoko in particular who had been plagued by mirrors screamed the loudest and then had fainted from pure shock, leaving Ran to a freak out on her own when the other girl crumpled to the ground beside her father.  
  
Chikage sucked in a breath and looked behind her, her suspicions were proven right as she saw two also identical looking boys trying to sneak away, she thinned her lips “BOYS!” She shouted and watched as the two of them froze.

Shinichi was the first to turn around and meet her eyes, he flinched when his parents turned to look and had copied Chikage’s firm scolding gaze when they caught sight of him, with a wince he looked to the ground in shame. Kaito had seen the looks the adults gave them and had opted to hide behind Shinichi, unlike the other boy he wasn’t all too willing to face them head on but he quietly and awkwardly called over his friend’s shoulder the following word; “Surprise….”  
  
Nami swooped in after hearing that, the dove circled the room carrying a lone yellow ribbon with the words ‘To friendship!’ scrawled in whimsical writing. The happy tone of the ribbon completely butting heads with the tense atmosphere of the lobby. Shinichi reached behind him, Kaito held his hand in response, time to face the downfall together.  
  


* * *

 

“Do you realize how much of a mess you two had caused?” Yukiko stood over the two boys who had their heads pointed down throughout the whole lecture, refusing to meet eyes with any of the adults.  
  
“You made poor Aoko-chan _faint!_ My goodness!” Chikage added standing next to Yukiko, adding to the lecture group that had formed around the two of them.  
  
“Not only that but you had both caused such a great misunderstanding!” Eri berated them and shot an apologetic look towards Ginzo who was seated at a couch and holding a small ice pack to his eye, his daughter fussing over him at his side while shooting Kaito glares “Do the two of you even know how much trouble you’re getting into for this? What exactly were you trying to achieve?!”  
  
Shinichi spared a glance at his friend, Kaito shrugged helplessly “Should I tell…?” Shinichi shook his head, his mother had meant that as a rhetorical question and she would probably not take their actual answer well or think that they were joking. Either way they lose.  
  
“We are all going to have a serious talk about this later” Chikage sent the two boys warning looks before sighing “Right now, Kaito, your father has no knowledge about what happened and it’s going to stay that way until the show ends. He’ll be expecting to see us at the front row and we will pretend as if the two of you aren’t in a whole lot of trouble, for his sake and for the show”  
  
Eri growled under her breath and crossed her arms over her chest “Don’t think that either of you will get off this easily”  
  
Yusaku sighed from where he was seated, he looked towards Ginzo who winced every time he had to reposition his ice pack “I am so sorry this happened Inspector Nakamori”  
  
Ginzo tried to smile but failed and grimaced instead “Ah well…boys right? I think I’ll be fine….” He sent an amused glance towards Eri who was a little surprised at it and was expecting that it would have been a little more angered “For a woman, you sure are a hard hitter Mouri-san, wow”  
  
Eri giggled and winked at him “You’d be surprised at what I can do”  
  
Ginzo chuckled “I’ll be sure to watch my back around you then” He sighed and looked at the two boys, a stern look going over his eyes “Now, what you two did was certainly the cause of all this trouble…..” He stood up and deposited the ice pack on the table in front of him with some protests from his daughter, he fisted his hands on his hips “And I’m assuming that the goal of…whatever this was involved my daughter and Mouri-san’s daughter. Am I correct?” The boys refused to look up at the officer but he caught the small nods, he shook his head in mild exasperation “Of course….Aoko?” His daughter stopped glaring at her friend to look at him, he nodded towards Eri’s daughter “I think it’s safe to assume that Ran-kun and Shinichi-kun over there are the ‘new friends’ you told me Kaito-kun wants you to meet”  
  
Aoko didn’t spare Shinichi much of a look but she turned a curious eye over to the little girl who could have been her twin. She slowly got off the couch and approached the other girl, Ran also gave her a look and met her in the middle, Aoko cleared her throat “Uh…hi”  
  
Ran smiled at that “You’re Aoko-chan right? I’ve heard about you from Kaito-kun but….” She sent a pointed glare towards the two boys who flinched at her “Neither he _nor_ Shinichi ever told me that we look alike”  
  
Aoko giggled at that “Boys are dumb”  
  
Ran smiled “Yeah, boys are dumb” She echoed with agreement. Kaito brightened a little at the sight of the two girls interacting and seemingly getting along while Shinichi only smiled, secretly holding back a chuckle because Ran’s meeting with Aoko was almost exactly the same as his meeting with Kaito, without all the fainting and the punching of course.

When everyone had calmed down, they all went back into the hall just as they were announcing the start of Toichi’s performance, the tense air directed at the two boys didn’t waver even when Toichi made leaves rain in the hall and disintegrate into dazzling snowflakes.  
  
Later with the show over, Toichi came out from the hall, avoiding people who seemed to want to corner him and never let him go, he made a quick dash towards his invited guests when he spotted them crowding around the waiting area.

The magician put on a dazzling smile as he approached them, a happy skip in his step mostly due to the success of his show and having some very interesting friends over to see said show “So! Did everyone enjoy?” He asked still smiling. Toichi’s mood faltered when he noticed how serious everyone looked, his eyes jumped from one person to another and found no trace of any positive emotions, he blinked “Did I…what happened??”  
  
Chikage cleared her throat beside him, he gave his wife a confused look “I think you should ask your son and your adopted nephew” The mention of the two boys had only made the magician thin his lips, whenever the two of them were involved in something together there would always be some sort of injury, either mentally or physically. Judging from the slightly bruised look of a certain officer he had come to like it must have been bad.  
  
Toichi turned to look at the two boys who were seated at a couch, he saw his son tighten his grip on Shinichi’s hand when he looked up to meet his eyes, a sheepish smile on his face “Hi..tou-san….” Toichi sighed, time to play scolding father, uncle in Shinichi’s case. He just hoped that he didn’t have to repeatedly play those roles for years to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a little late to say but I'm taking a small break from writing this and putting out new chapters. I only got to do this now, that's just how busy I am. I'm applying for universities to enter this year and that means I have to concentrate on my studies more if I want to get in. So it'll be a while before anyone hears from me unfortunately.
> 
> Aaand here is the among other things part! Yeah I know that the pacing isn't as fast as it should be and I come back with this thing but seriously I'm just in for a bit of building before everything goes to hell. Shh, be patient, heartbreaks will happen yes.
> 
> Bye for now!


	9. Adulthood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo its a time skip! Which is a thing that I believe will happen lots of times ish.  
> Yeah this isn't long but I'm getting back into the swing so here we go!

Toichi Kuroba considered himself a very lucky man to have the life he was living, he never made it a secret that he was very content with it and had always looked upon it with a cheerful smile. What was there to be ungrateful for? He had a roof over his head, worked a job he enjoyed, has a wife who he loves, a son he adores, and has some very interesting friends who came in all forms and walks of life, all of which he knew he could always trust, yes, he was pretty much living a very happy life.

Unfortunately, there were small bumps in his pristine road of life, bumps which- if he was being honest- really put a strain on his happiness.  Like this very moment he found himself in, staring at a white dull ceiling, a crick in his neck that just didn’t seem to want to get away, his own body stiff as a stone while his mouth felt too heavy, his wife scowling at him from a corner of the room and two of his closest friends sending him the same look beside him. Toichi strained to smile “Is it too late to save myself from spontaneously combusting or are all of you just going to melt me with your eyes?”

“Shut up Kuroba” Yusaku growled, seated on a plastic chair reading a newspaper, though with how tightly he was gripping it, Toichi was convinced that the novelist was soon going to tear it apart. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel guilty with the underlying worry his friend held in his tone.

He watched as Yukiko stood up stiffly and walked to the door of his room, her heels making soft clicks on the tiled floor “I’m going to call the doctor to tell her you’re awake” Was all she said before she left the room and shut the door behind her, although she had done it gently Toichi didn’t miss the rather violent way the knob had been turned. He swallowed thickly, tapping his fingers on the metal railing of his bed. Honestly the magician wanted to say something, anything at all but with how thick the air around them was he found that he would choke on his words before he could get anything out, he peered at his wife who was busy trying to ignore him as she sipped coffee from a Styrofoam cup, he ran his tongue behind his teeth after realizing how much he wanted a drink himself.

The room stayed silent, the only sound coming from the occasional flip of Yusaku’s newspaper and Chikage’s quiet sips, Toichi exhaled quietly “..What do you want me to say?” He croaked then cleared his throat but he didn’t meet the eyes of any of the adults in the room, instead he stared straight forward, face blank as his poker face slowly slipped on with the inciting of the confrontation.

He heard a loud crumple beside him and guessed that Yusaku had lowered his newspaper harshly and set it down on his wife’s previous seat “We don’t want you to say anything Toichi,” He breathed harshly “what we want is for you to stop _doing_ ”

Toichi’s eyes flickered to the side, he thankfully kept his grimace in at the absolute livid expression Yusaku was shooting at him “Elaborate” He said flatly, trying hard not to let his guilt trickle through his defense for having so many people worried about him. His eyelids fluttered when he noticed his wife set down her cup on a small table to cover her eyes with her hands, he felt even worse when she began to speak.

“Don’t act like you’re innocent Toichi, just, _don’t_ ” Chikage exhaled shakily and pressed her palms into her eyes as much as she could, she sniffled and drew her hands away from her eyes to fold unto her lap, she still didn’t look at her husband, just stared into her cup of now cold coffee “You _collapsed_ for crying out loud!” Her eyes glimmered with unshed tears. Toichi had to look away from her “I should have seen it coming! I _should_ have made you stay at home more! I _saw_ what was happening to you but I didn’t do anything!!” She fisted her skirt and gritted her teeth “Do you understand that Toichi?! I saw but did nothing! I’m supposed to be your wife and I…a-and you…..” She covered her mouth with her hand, her body shaking as she held back her sobs. She held up her free hand when she spotted Yusaku standing up to come and comfort her, she shook her head “Just…just give me a moment Yusaku…..I need some air”

Chikage stood up and hastily went out the room, Yusaku watched her with a grim expression until she clicked the door shut behind her. He stood still, eyes on only the door, then he sucked in a breath before he spoke “You’re a fucking bastard at times, do you know that?”

Toichi pursed his lips and leaned against the bed which he had raised up a little to act as a headrest, the magician gripped onto the blanket until his knuckles turned white “I know….I didn’t think-“

“That right, you didn’t _think_ ” Yusaku rounded on him, visibly angered “You’re a brilliant man Toichi, I’ve seen you pull off feats I didn’t even think was possible, I’ve never met anyone who could  go against my wit as easily as you but sometimes….” The novelist pressed his palm against his forehead, he exhaled through his teeth “Sometimes you’re just so much of an **_idiot_** I have to wonder if I was right about you” This time Toichi did wince, he hung his head in shame, tired physically from all the trouble he had gone through the past few months, and tired emotionally from all the verbal lashing. Yusaku pinched the bridge of his nose then looked back at the closed door of the room, no one seemed to be coming back “You shouldn’t have pushed yourself so hard” His tone was softer this time but it still held the same edge to it “Having to live as much as you do….you’re just one man Toichi” He sighed and turned tired eyes towards his friend “And now….you’ve told me last year about _that concern_ of yours” The novelist made sure to pick his words carefully, he saw Toichi tensing slightly as he had predicted at the mention of it “Toichi, if what you told me was true-“

“It’s true” Yusaku paused at the finality that rang in his friend’s words, also at the fear he could feel with that firm statement.

 He sighed “All the more reason for you to take better care of yourself, if you let your paranoia run you to the ground like this…..ugh..” Yusaku shook his head “Why do I even bother with you anymore? It’s not like you’d ever listen to any of us”

 “It’s not like that Yusaku I’m just..” Toichi raised his hands up and let them fall back down to his lap again, the impact making a small muffled sound “..I’m _trying_ to…to keep it safe, to keep my _family_ safe” The novelist’s hardened stare softened at that, he understood what Toichi was trying to say. Ever since last year when the magician had approached him about that sensitive matter they had to watch every word that came out from their mouth, neither of them were sure of how serious it really was but just to be safe, they had to play it this way.

 Recently, Toichi had been burying himself under mounds of work, more so than usual. Yukiko was the first one who gained word of it through Chikage, the two women had gone out together and Chikage began to pour out her new concerns about her husband’s deteriorating health, naturally Yukiko had turned to Yusaku about it in hopes that the novelist could talk some sense into their friend, even when Yusaku had confronted Toichi about it during the earlier stages, the magician had pulled on his infuriating poker face and pretended that everything was just _peachy_.

Yusaku had half expected the call from a panicked Chikage telling them that Toichi had collapsed just as the two of them were headed to their car. By the time they got Toichi to the hospital, it was only then had they seen the full extent of the damage done due to his overexertion. The first few nights had Toichi delirious, he kept fighting against an invisible foe, kicking and screaming at the air, it ended badly with multiple doctors trying to hold him down and then later sedating him, Yusaku had done his best not to let either woman present see what was happening. It got worse from there as the magician showed signs of having difficulty breathing, sometimes even stopping for minutes at a time, it had caused panic and he had to be monitored closely because of it, a doctor had suggested a breathing tube at some point but Toichi had soon stabilized not long after, it didn’t stop Chikage from crying her eyes out in the hallway where the Kudo parents could only wait until she had calmed down, both feeling the most helpless. For now, the magician seemed to be alright, which was a relief after all those horrible days, he was still a bit weak but the doctors expect that he’ll be back on his feet with just a few more days of rest.

In all, the whole event had scared Chikage greatly and the Kudo parents had stayed by her side for days on end during Toichi’s recovery. Yukiko had nearly burst into tears at the state of her friends but she knew all they could really do was hope for the best and offer support when needed, and that they did. Naturally they hadn’t said anything to the children about the whole ordeal, it was best that they didn’t know, especially Kaito who had been fussing over his father for a while now. The adults felt bad about lying to the children, but they didn’t want to cause them any unnecessary stress. Since Chikage was too distraught to have kept herself together at home, she decided that Kaito would stay over at the Kudo residence for the time being while she stayed at the hospital (under the excuse that she and Toichi took a long needed vacation together), at least until Toichi was healthy enough.

Luckily it was spring break so they didn’t have much to worry about in regards to school, this way Kaito wouldn’t be suspicious about the arrangements. Although, the first time around that Toichi got sick was a few weeks before spring break, Chikage had done her best to make up excuses for her husband but she knew that Kaito might have suspected something when his father hadn’t come home, Toichi may have had long time leaves before but it was never for more than a week and a half. Yukiko and Yusaku had tried their best to ease Chikage of her worries, god knew that she already had a lot on her plate, every time they came back to the hospital they would tell her all about what the two boys had been up to, most of their antics together had never failed to make Chikage smile or at best laugh, but as the days grew longer even a tale of the two boys getting tangled up in curtains in a prank gone wrong could barely coax a smile out of her. They didn’t know what to do anymore.

“Keeping your family safe….” Yusaku began slowly “How in the world are you supposed to do that if one day you just drop dead in front of them? Hmm?? Answer me that Toichi” He challenged, his eyes hardening again as he turned to look at his friend.  
  
Toichi swallowed thickly, had his throat always been dry? “…I know you’re angry-“

“Oh please” Yusaku scoffed, the smile on his face lacking any appropriate emotion attributed to it.

Toichi sighed “But what else was I supposed to do? Night after night, I can’t walk two steps away from my evening shows without seeing someone trying to talk to me”

 _‘I’m being followed’_ Yusaku stiffened at the message, the novelist circled his friend’s bed then stopped at the other side, he leaned forward, bracing himself on the metal railings “Then why don’t you just cancel your evening shows? You have enough to deal with during the day already” _‘Stop doing unnecessary work’_

“If I do that, Yusaku, you know very well that my hosts would become disappointed” _‘They’ll get suspicious’_

 “You and I both know that your evening shows were always at a minimum, it wouldn’t be strange if you refused to do as much and just go back to your old schedule! Especially now that you’ve pushed yourself too far!” They stared each other down, each unwilling to back off. When the door clicked open and the two women came back, Yusaku let go of the metal railing but still kept his gaze on Toichi “The world isn’t your stage Toichi, let other performers have their go” The magician sucked in a quiet breath, knowing what Yusaku was asking him to do. Reluctantly the magician let himself nod, slowly, Yusaku’s jaw tightened at that and he went over to his wife “We’ll be taking our leave now Chikage, the boys should be expecting us to come back by now”

Yukiko walked over to his side while Chikage nodded solemnly “Tell my Kai-chan that we’ll be home soon”

Yukiko smiled softly at her friend and gave her a hug “We will” Chikage let her go and watched her two friends leave the room. Once alone she turned to look at her husband, Toichi stared back at her. Wordlessly she crossed the room and sat back down on her previous seat, she took her abandoned cup and swirled the chilling beverage within it “Don’t do this to us Toichi” Her voice was soft, almost soundless. Chikage watched her husband from the corner of her eye. Toichi had shifted to his side. He didn’t speak to her for the rest of the day.  
  


* * *

 

Kaito stared out one of the many windows in the Kudo mansion, he had been here for days now and while Shinichi had kept him in high spirits the first time around he couldn’t help but feel a little homesick. Now especially, his parents hadn’t been around for a while, he understood that their vacation was needed- he wasn’t blind, he could clearly see how tired his father was- but it was a little unfair to leave him out of the blue like that, it almost felt like they abandoned him. He frowned and hugged himself as he continued to watch the world outside. It started drizzling not too long ago, spring rain huh? He sunk into his shirt.

A soft flutter of wings caught his hearing, he didn’t need to look up to notice Nami swirling around his head before flying back to where she came from, light treading footsteps followed “There you are” Shinichi came into view as Kaito turned away from the window to look at his friend.

Nami had perched herself on the young Kudo’s shoulder, he smiled at her “You turned my own dove against me” He tsked at Nami in a mock scolding way “Shame on you Nami-chan, revealing my hideaway like that”

Shinichi reached up to pet the bird just in case she actually took Kaito’s tone as something bad “Your ‘hideaway’ is the second floor hallway of my house” He smiled at Nami who leaned into his hand but never took his attention away from his friend for long, it didn’t take a genius to know that Kaito was moping.

“It’s a hideaway if it took you this long to find me Shin-chan” The young magician turned around again to gaze out the window, making no move to show that he was leaving his spot any time soon. Nami joined him followed by Shinichi, the dove settling down nicely between them on the windowsill, she cooed at both of them, ruffling her feathers and making herself look more like a fluffy ball than a bird, the boys chuckled at that.

A still silence washed over the two of them, the sounds of pattering rain being the only thing they could hear, the roar of distant thunder accompanying the orchestra of the raindrops, splashing into puddles and hitting any flat surface they could fall into “I’m worried about my dad….” Kaito said it softly, afraid to disrupt the sounds of the outside world and shatter the moment he found himself in. Shinichi directed his eyes towards his friend but said nothing else as to let Kaito continue “He’s been looking really sick, my parents think I don’t know that something’s wrong” He scoffed and leaned his arms against the windowsill, crossing them and resting his chin on top of it, his nose almost touching the glass of the window “I’m not dumb” He murmured into his arms.

Shinichi huffed at that, reaching out to pet Nami on her head, the dove burrowed further into her feathers “Grown-ups usually think we are” He thought back to his own parents who have been disappearing just as much as the Kuroba parents, he may not know the exact reason why they kept leaving but he was willing to bet that Kaito’s family was involved. Speaking of which…Shinichi looked over at his friend, Kaito was too busy brushing Nami’s feathers down with his fingers to notice him staring _‘That’s right’_ Shinichi thought to himself _‘I completely forgot about asking Kaito about that thing…’_ Shinichi wondered if his father, and Kaito’s father, had anything to do with the sudden lack of adults in their lives. Perhaps they finally told their wives about whatever it was they were hiding and now every single one of them were involved it whatever it was the two men got themselves into.

Shinichi hoped that it was nothing bad, he had faith that their parents weren’t doing anything illegal, but it was always possible that they all found trouble somewhere. Not that that thought made him feel any better, he shuddered and rubbed his arms “Kaito…can I ask you something?” Shinichi made sure to start slow, he was convinced by now that his friend would run at any sudden or loud sounds, which was what he had been doing ever since his parents had gone out. It was a miracle he even found the young magician staying still at all. Kaito spared him a glance along with an almost disinterested noise, he hadn’t moved much from his position “Last year….you know, around the time for the Halloween party? I..” He trailed off and looked to the ground, he didn’t know how to phrase it, Kaito was already concerned for his father as it is. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to ask him?

Especially now, Shinichi mentally cursed himself for not asking about it last year when he had so many chances to do so “Shin-chan, I know you think my magic is cool and all but I haven’t quite mastered mind reading yet”

Shinichi blinked back into the present to be greeted by a small amused smile from his friend along with Nami peering at him curiously, he huffed “Okay first, your magic isn’t _that_ cool, at best it’s just so-so mostly because I’ve seen better- yes your dad- second, mind reading isn’t a real thing and if it was it would be a headache to have, the human mind won’t always stay on one track, it’s thoughts will branch and shift too quick thus creating an overload of information for the reader, that said it’s a stupid ability to have”

Kaito chuckled and shook his head, a full smile on his face as he pushed himself off the window to cross his arms over his chest and raise an eyebrow at Shinichi “You sure know to crush a guy’s hopes and dreams Shin-chan, you’d make a great realist life coach if the whole detective thing doesn’t work”

“Thanks, I have a fallback plan then” Shinichi let his own smile out as Kaito got Nami to perch on his shoulder, the young magician motioned for the two of them to head downstairs.

“Don’t distract me, that’s my thing. What did you want to ask?” Straight to the point. Shinichi pursed his lips and stuck his hands inside his shorts’ pockets, he flickered his eyes over to his waiting friend’s face and winced inwardly. He weighed the pros and cons of asking Kaito about their fathers’ suspicious meet up.

Pros: if Kaito knew something maybe they’ll be able to figure out what the two older men talked about and perhaps ease their troubles about what the adults might be up to. Cons:  if Kaito didn’t know anything it may serve to fuel their fear and his friend could get even more upset than he already is. Shinichi didn’t like the cons at all but his curiosity was starting to weigh out, his mind went into overdrive looking for a solution that wouldn’t end with either Kaito becoming so stressed he’ll curl up into a ball and roll away where Shinichi would never find him or Kaito going after his parents and dragging him into a wild goose chase in search for them to make sure they were okay.

The first was probably unlikely but the second was something Shinichi would expect from his friend “Helloooo? Shin-chan if I didn’t know any better your brain’s starting to slow down, that’s not good for a tantei-kun” Hands clapped in front of his eyes and Shinichi had to shake his head to get Kaito to stop doing it, they had reached the living room without him knowing and apparently Kaito had been trying his hardest to get his attention.  
  
He blushed in embarrassment and cleared his throat “I uh….I didn’t know how to ask this…thing…..” Kaito went ahead of him and bounced into the living room sofa. Shinichi smiled when the magician began to play with the new deck of cards he got him for Christmas, the old deck he had was starting to tear anyway.

“Do I have to solve a riddle or….?” Kaito trailed off, looking up at him while still managing to maneuver his cards in his hands.

Shinichi took his place beside his friend, he shook his head “Nothing like that….don’t get upset?” The cards shifting in Kaito’s hands paused, he regarded his friend with seriousness, a rare sight in itself but Shinichi didn’t have the time to appreciate it “Like I said, last year during the time when we were preparing for the Halloween party….did you know that your dad came over to visit once?” Kaito shook his head and Shinichi didn’t miss the curious look that took over his friend’s face.

He wasn’t sure he wanted to continue knowing that Kaito didn’t know about his father’s visit but he was sure his friend would only bug him for all eternity about it if he didn’t finish, he sighed “It looked normal at first, I mean he talked to my mom too and lots of what he said had something to do with his shows and some new tricks or whatever, but then he talked to my dad and….it got weird” He shrugged and looked at his lap at this point, not wanting to see Kaito’s reaction to any of the words that were about to come “Their faces got all serious and I couldn’t even hear what they were saying because they started to whisper, when they see my mom or me close by they just switch the tone and it would look like they were just talking about nothing special. Then your dad told my dad that they should continue somewhere private, after that they went into my dad’s study and….I just had this bad feeling, like when you know something’s gonna happen and it’s not gonna be nice..what I really want to ask is…do you know anything about it?”

Shinichi finally looked up to see how his friend took it, Kaito looked genuinely confused and a little scared, which was expected. The young magician leaned back and pressed a hand to his mouth while he thought about it. He gave Shinichi some contemplative looks and would sometimes flicker over to the direction where he knew Yusaku’s study should be. His eyebrows furrowed “That’s…No, I don’t know anything but that’s….kinda scary I guess….” He paled and turned his panicked gaze over to Shinichi “You don’t think….?”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions” Shinchi held his hands up in a calming manner, hoping to at least block his friend from instantly jumping out the nearest exit way to hunt his parents down “Yeah, I had a bad feeling but maybe I was wrong, maybe they were planning a surprise or something” It was a weak excuse and they both knew it but Shinichi tried anyway “This whole thing right now? With our parents just disappearing? It’s nothing, don’t freak out please” Shinichi sat on his heels on the couch facing his friend, he placed his hands on Kaito’s shoulders, hoping to get his message across: _‘Don’t do something stupid, don’t make_ us _do something stupid’._

 Thankfully Kaito seemed to get the message and Shinichi felt his tenseness melt away until the young magician was slack against the couch “I won’t Shin-chan, m’not gonna freak out promise. You’re right, maybe it’s really nothing” He sighed “Sorry I couldn’t help though, tou-san really didn’t say anything about visiting you guys”

“It can’t be helped, grown-ups don’t always tell us everything” Although, Shinichi knew Kaito enough that the young Kuroba was probably thinking up of ways to confront his father, not that he approved but what family business Kaito had was none of his business unless his friend told him about it or asked for help. Either way Kaito wasn’t going to let the matter drop no matter what he said. Shinichi didn’t like the atmosphere so he opted to change it, he sat cross-legged while still facing his friend “Say, I got you those cards for a good reason, that’s to practice. Don’t think I’m letting you slack off just because you’re all mope-y, what fun would you be if you can’t even challenge me anymore?”

Kaito was momentarily surprised but his grin came back full force at Shinichi’s inciting, he made the cards his friend got him reappear in his hands, shifting them back and forth in a steady pace “Alright _coach_ , let’s see if you can keep up”  


* * *

 

“No way, _no way_ are you gonna be able to do it from here!”

“Silence non-believer! You shall be awed by my skills!!”

“I’ll believe it when I see it so shut up and just do it already”

“Patience hime-sama, giving you the world will take some time”

“Kaito just shoot the freaking card already!” That was what the Kudo parents heard as soon as they stepped into the house again. While Yusaku was hanging up their coats, Yukiko quietly approached the area where the sounds were coming from. The ex-actress peeked around a corner and was a little surprised at what she saw. The room was completely flooded with cards, you could see a lot of them in every nook and cranny, they were scattered and haphazardly thrown around and in the middle of the chaos of cards stood a high card tower that had obviously been constructed with a lot of care “Miss, miss, miss!!”

On the couch a few ways away from the tower stood the two boys, Shinichi was behind Kaito holding on to his shoulders while his chin was propped up on the magician’s left shoulder as Kaito himself was swinging a single ace card steadily in his right hand “I’m not gonna miss, I’m not gonna miss!!”

 Kaito said laughingly while Shinichi gave him wry grin “Miss! Trip! Fail! You’re gonna fail! You’re gonna miiiiiss it!!”  
  
“Shut up Shin-chan! I’m trying to concentrate!!” Kaito couldn’t help the cut off laughter that came from him when Shinichi began to chant ‘Fail’ over and over again near his ear, the young magician elbowed his friend lightly “Would you stop?! I’m not gonna miss!” He said with a smile.

Shinichi’s own had a smug edge to it “You’re gonna miss, that tower is gonna fall and I’ll be the victor” Kaito rolled his eyes fondly but used the opportunity of Shinichi not chanting words into his ear to flick his wrist and send the card flying towards the tower “Oh there it goes it’s gonna miss!!”

“No it’s not!”

“OH”

“AAH!” The boys held their breath as the card neared the top of the tower, its spinning had slowed along with its speed, the boys watched as it grazed the top of the tower and skidded slightly to a halt, most of its body barely hanging on the final triangle of the tower. The boys stood completely still though Kaito struggled with keeping his breath in, Shinichi could feel him shaking from behind, finally the young magician exhaled loudly then inhaled a huge gasp of air, the shift of the air causing the card on top of the tower to wobble, Kaito paled “NO!”

“YES!!” Shinichi yelled as the card dropped and hit one of the tower’s supports, the whole thing came crashing down with an audible flutter of cards, making an even bigger mess of the room than previous. Kaito groaned and put his face in his hands while Shinichi celebrated “I told you it’s a miss!”

“You kept cursing me with your detective voodoo!!” Kaito whined while Shinichi laughed.

“Aw, all that matters is that I was right and you totally lost this one!” The young magician pouted at his friend and sulked quietly, Shinichi kept poking his cheek while chanting ‘You missed’ over and over again with his own cheeky smile.

 Yukiko giggled and finally stepped into the room “Hello boys” She greeted as she approached the couch, Shinichi had draped himself over a sulky Kaito and looked up to smile at his mother “Welcome back kaa-san” Kaito puffed out his cheeks and mumbled a similar greeting.

Yukiko smiled at both of them and ruffled their hair “It’s nice to see you two having fun and all but who’s going to clean up this mess now?”

“SHIN-CHAN!” Kaito immediately shouted, nearly knocking Shinichi off his back when he sat straight again.

Yukiko giggled “You heard him Shin-chan” Shinichi gaped at the both of them, he gave Kaito a dirty look and the other boy just stuck his tongue out at him.

 _“What now voodoo man?”_ Kaito whispered with a grin. Shinichi pretended to curse him, Kaito pretended to be horrified. In the end, the two of them cleaned up the mess together along with Yukiko, then later they all tricked Yusaku into doing it after he came in and they asked him to play a card game, unfortunately it was fifty-two pickup.  
  
When all the cards were finally shoved back into whatever mysterious pocket dimension Kaito had on his person, they had all settled down in the living room, enjoying the moment of peace that passed over all of them. The Kudo parents had taken up the couch and had decided to just let the television run without really seeing what was on while the two boys sat on the floor with Kaito practicing his sleight of hand under Shinichi’s watchful gaze.

The Kudo parents would sometimes slide their attention towards the children then give each other worried looks, ever since coming back they were slightly concerned about whether or not either of the boys had caught on to the recent mishaps, they were both smart for their age and it wouldn’t surprise them if they had suspected at least one thing, even in passing. Not that they have any plans to actually tell the boys about Toichi’s accident but they had to do something about easing some of their fears if they had any, at least it would pacify them for the time being. Yukiko tapped her husband’s arm as discreetly as she could, Yusaku looked towards her, she nudged her head to the direction where the boys were happily playing with a hard look in her eyes, Yusaku shrugged when he couldn’t understand what she wanted, Yukiko sighed “Kaito-kun”

 She ignored the panicked look that fitted across her husband’s face, she placed a reassuring hand over his own as the boy in question looked up and botched his trick as a result, sending the card in his hand flying towards Shinichi and hitting his friend on the forehead “Oop! Sorry! Sorry!!” Kaito snatched the card from the air before it could hit the ground while his other hand fussed about Shinichi who waved him off while rubbing his forehead.

“It’s fine, I’m okay, seriously Kaito stop I’m okay” Yukiko could melt at the sight of Kaito being so concerned over her son but she set her feelings aside for now to address a certain matter.

“Kaito-kun, this is about your parents” The two boys stilled at that, she winced when Kaito’s eyes turned to her with a hint of fear, she waved her hands “Ah! No it’s nothing bad! Eh ah- Your mama asked me to tell you that they’ll be coming home soon- in a few days in fact!- but your papa is going to be a little out of it, it seems he needed a longer vacation, he’s fine though so don’t worry!” She leaned forward and petted the young Kuroba’s hair in reassurance.

Kaito leaned into her touch with an unsure smile, pleased his parents were coming back but concerned over his father’s health “Oh?”

 “Mhm, and your papa isn’t going to do much shows for now on your mama’s orders. They just wanted to let you know so that you wouldn’t worry too much when they get back, you know how it is nee Kaito-kun?”

Kaito looked towards Shinichi, his friend shrugged but he offered him a smile with it, Kaito sighed “I..I guess….thank you for telling me Yukiko-obachan”

Yukiko smiled, a hint of sadness to it that the boys didn’t see. She leaned back on the couch “We’re sorry for worrying you two, we know the past few days must have been confusing”  
  
Yusaku huffed beside her “I’ll say….” Yukiko elbowed him, Yusaku looked at her confusedly and justifiably a little upset that she elbowed him.

She didn’t give him much mind and focused on the children instead “Rest assured that all of this will pass alright?” Kaito and Shinichi gave each other looks, Yukiko waited for their response in bated breath. Finally the two kids seemed to accept her answer and nodded in response, Yukiko smiled softly and knelt down to give them both a hug “You’ll understand when you’re older” She muttered. The two boys had heard what she said, and despite the warm embrace along with hushed reassurances under a warm roof accompanied by two grown-ups who genuinely cared, the both of them silently accepted that the adults had lied.

 

* * *

 

_Tick..tick..tick..tick..tick_

In the silence of the room only the clock dared to utter a sound, a monotonous steady stream that filled in the blanks of the stillness. A muffled ruffle of sheets accompanied the quiet ticking as Shinichi opened his eyes a little to look up at the clock, dazedly watching its seconds hand dash around its face, waiting as his sleep slowly left him with each second. Shinichi lay on his side for a while, not really sure what had woken him, he stared at the clock but for some reason he was unable to tell what time it was, almost as if his mind refused to process anything else other than his own confusion. He shifted a little and found out that the other side of his bed felt cold, something he questioned himself over before remembering that during the course of spring break his bed had been anything but.

Finally realizing why he woke up, the young Kudo turned himself around and spotted his friend sitting at the edge of his bed, part of the blanket wrapped around him as he watched the rainfall outside the window. Shinichi didn’t say anything much, just watched his friend’s expression, Kaito’s face remained blank “Why’re you…up..?” Shinichi cleared his throat a little, feeling it close up when he started to talk. Kaito looked back in surprise then softened his expression when he saw Shinichi sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” Shinichi sighed and nodded, pushing back his comment about futons being a solution to it, it was no use anyway seeing as his friend already invaded the left side of his bed and claimed it as his own. Kaito smiled sadly at him “Sorry Shin-chan” He mumbled then turned his head back to the window, saying nothing else to his risen friend.

Shinichi gave him a worried look that he didn’t see, the young Kudo crawled across the bed and took a seat beside his friend “You didn’t answer my question”

 Kaito shrugged at him “Couldn’t sleep” They spoke lowly, voices kept at a minimum as if trying to preserve the sounds that the night had brought in. The rain hadn’t slowed since the afternoon, in fact it got heavier once the sky grew dim, outside the raindrops pattered loudly against the window’s glass, sometimes the sky would illuminate when a streak of lightning passed through, later followed by a boom of thunder, almost muffling the incessant ticking of the clock inside the room, had the sounds not been muffled by the mansion’s walls.

“Is this about your parents?” Shinichi hugged his knees closer to his chest while Kaito burrowed deeper into the blanket he wrapped around himself, flinching just an inch when the lightning briefly lit up the room.

“Kinda” Was the short answer, Kaito didn’t really have a word for what he was feeling and what had been going on in his head as of late. The young magician startled out of his thoughts when he felt Shinichi pat his back comfortingly, he gave his friend an unreadable look but Shinichi wasn’t looking at him, he was the one looking out the window this time.

“Will you be okay?” Shinichi had turned his eyes back to him when he asked that, Kaito in return stilled at the concern he saw etched into his friend’s face, he stayed quiet for a while, simply taking in as much of the comfort Shinichi was offering him, then he smiled softly and scooted closer to lean his head against his friend’s shoulder.

“I think so” Shinichi sighed, more in relief this time. He let the young magician circle his arms around his waist while he himself continued to pat his back, if Kaito just needed someone to hold on to and tell him that it was going to be okay, then Shinichi was going to be that person, it was what friends did after all. Nothing against the adults but Shinichi felt that they were the last people either of them would turn to for comfort for now, it was painfully obvious that they were trying to hide something from them. They didn’t think they could deal with that right now. Shinichi could understand why Kaito felt a little bit more comfortable turning to him for reassurances. They didn’t talk that night, just reveled in each other’s company, the two kids watched the world outside be drenched in the pouring rain, sometimes even those loud sounds would get pushed behind the clock’s steady ticking from within the room, it was strange but somehow it became louder than the rain, louder than the thunder, nothing but just a steady _tick..tick..tick._ That was the sound that slowly lulled the boys back to sleep.  
  


* * *

 

_Somehow, everything was taking a turn for the worse, but why was that?_

_He pulled off the heist flawlessly, the artifact was in his hands, the police were busy chasing a shadow five blocks away from where he was making his actual escape, amidst all the confusion his tricks had conjured up no one even spared a glance in his direction, opting to pay attention to all the lights and sounds that drowned out his figure and the hurried steps of his shoes running through the tops of buildings. He had made the perfect escape._

_So why was his heart beating so fast?_

_Why was he **afraid**?_

_Under the gleam of the moonlight, a lone white clad figure stopped for breath on the roof of a currently empty company building. His white cape rustled behind him as he leaned against a metal pole on top of the building, or was it a signal tower? He wasn’t paying any attention, it wasn’t important. The medallion in his hands burned as his grip tightened around it while his eyes surveyed his area, though his subconscious mind reminded him that the medallion was older than he so his grip loosened not long after it tightened, instead he cradled the medallion close but paid it little mind._

_What, what, **WHAT** was he looking for?!_

_Ever since he escaped with the artifact he couldn’t shake off the heavy feeling of someone’s gaze crawling over his whole person. He couldn’t understand why that was because he made sure that his particular escape route of the night was relatively safe and devoid of people. No one should know he was here but he was agitated beyond belief._

_He had run ins with potentially threatening people before, most of the time they were the police. Too many close calls and hazards to his health and identity had come from his encounters with them, especially on an international scale, but never in his whole experience with law enforcement did he ever feel that his life was hanging by a thread, never did he think that he was any danger with them in regards to his own life, his life in a sense that he could be imprisoned yes, but never threatened._

_It only scared him to think that someone- no- something else was after him, and it wasn’t going to be as benevolent as the police. Whatever it was is dangerous._

_This wasn’t even the first time he felt this way, even months prior held the same slimy feeling of eyes on him. At first he thought was only imagining it, he knew he got paranoid after a policeman got lucky enough to almost catch him in one of his heists, but he was sure he wasn’t just going insane from his stress, he **knew** it was real. It was! He would never try to joke about or push aside serious matters, he knew he was being watched._

_Toichi raised a hand up to his chest, feeling the frantic beats of his heart. Fueled by the leftover adrenalin from a successful heist and the fear he was currently feeling. For once ever since he started this career, the elusive phantom thief felt himself trapped by a power that he could not escape this time. Wearily, the thief glanced around his surroundings, in the distance the familiar wails of sirens echoed but seemed to be abruptly cut off by the deafening silence of the area. Usually, Toichi was relieved to be away from the noise and confusion to be able to catch a break, but now he would give anything to be drowned in it._

_He wondered if it was a mistake to choose this escape route, come to think of it, the path almost seemed even_ too _perfect to him when he first came to scout it out, but idiotically, he had brushed it off for that infamous Kuroba luck that he seemed to have. He felt anything but lucky as of the moment. Toichi looked down at the medallion in his hands, it was worn and showed its age but it held together nicely, according to the news it was definitely worth a lot of money but…….the way the owners had set up security for it wasn’t…it wasn’t even what he would call_ security _for a priceless artifact. One guard and his Doberman shouldn’t be all that the owners provided for it, they had even called it a family heirloom, what gives?_

 _Toichi knew something was fishy about the whole thing, he regretted taking up the heist even more now. He should have turned back, he_ should _have said no._

_The thief jumped when something white fluttered into his peripheral vision, Toichi snatched the fluttering piece of paper just as it was about to pass him. The nightly wind softly moved it in his hand but he soon steadied it with his other one. He was surprised to see that it was addressed to him and went to read what else was written on it, but not without putting his guard up even more, soon becoming hyperaware of his surroundings._

_The letter read:_

Kaitou KID,

Your activities have garnered a…business interest as of late. Your abilities and skills as a phantom thief have not gone unnoticed, not many of your kind come even remotely close to your caliber.

Consider us impressed.

We will keep a closer eye on you for now on.

We will come in contact soon.

Oh, and keep your prize. The owners do not need it anymore.

_Toichi stared at the letter for so long that he doesn’t even remember how long he spent up on that empty rooftop. The magician’s hands shook as he held the letter in a death grip, then something clicked in his mind. A horrifying realization. THE OWNERS-!_

_Just as the thief turned to look back at the heist location an explosion rang out followed by the panicked screams of civilians and a louder wail of police sirens. His blood ran ice cold, the medallion felt hot in his hands as he stared at the black smoke that rose into the sky, his ears rang louder than the screams of the civilians, he couldn’t breathe._

_What did he do?_

_He ran._

Toichi’s eyes snapped open, his mind wasn’t quite awake but his rushing blood had no trouble bringing him back into reality. He breathed deeply and somewhat erratically, but he soon leveled himself as soon as his eyes travelled downward to see his wife sleeping with her head rested on his hospital bed. He didn’t want to wake her, she never really slept well these days, the bags under her eyes were testimonies to that claim. She needed the rest.

Still, it didn’t stop his mind from racing back to that memory, a month old memory. He raised his hand up to press it into his forehead, hissing at how cold it was but at the same time welcoming the cooling sensation on his heated skin. The magician didn’t want to close his eyes, he was afraid that the images were still crisp and fresh in his mind that nothing would stop them from coming back tenfold, he didn’t want to face them again.

Though some still trickled through, most of them of the day after the explosion. The news coverage went crazy, not caring if each and every one of them had the same coverage.

**TRICKSTER’S TRAGEDY! KID’S TRICKS GONE WRONG?**

**KAITO KID: ENDS WITH A BANG!**

**NEWEST KID HEIST, THE START OF SOMETHING SINISTER?**

A lot of them spoke ill towards him, most of them painted him as having to reach the end of his rope and finally making his alter ego a more aggressive criminal out for money. Everyone honestly believed that it was his fault. Maybe it was…

Many people got hurt during the explosion, no one in the crowd died but the owners…

**EXPLOSION TAKES THE LIVES OF THE KOGA FAMILY**

That was the one news coverage that stayed with him. He knew that it was no coincidence that all of those happened the night of that particular heist, how easy it was, how he escaped, what artifact was to be stolen, how he found out about it, _everything._ It was a set up and he fell for it. He grew lax and didn’t bother with his usual care, he didn’t become suspicious, he grew cocky for being able to do this for years and just felt that this particular heist showed off how good he had gotten in his art.

And his carelessness cost people their lives.

Toichi couldn’t even return the medallion on time, the ordeal had shaken him up badly to the point that it took a whole day for it to finally be returned, albeit without his usual letter to the police for being good sports at the heist. It just showed up in the station without any indication that anyone had placed it there. It was unexpected since he never gave it back to the police directly, usually it was the owners who got them back first.

He took in a breath.

The night he ran, he could remember how heavy the letter felt in his hand, the letter was crumpled and riddled with holes when he finally reached one of his safe houses. He couldn’t even remember what happened next in detail, but the next thing he knew was that there was a scent of ashes in the air and the letter burning brightly on the floor in pieces. The only thing in his mind that replayed over and over was one word:

**_Threat._ **

For a while he felt as though he wouldn’t be able to pull off another heist, but soon he began to pull one heist after another, always different, always unexpected. He supposed that maybe having so many would tire out whoever was watching him, even for a while, but the feeling _just wouldn’t_ **go away**.  
  
Toichi relaxed his body as he felt himself tense up, he shouldn’t get so wound up especially now that he’s recovering from yet another one of his stupid mistakes. With a resigned air about him the man looked out the window, watching as the city lights flickered and trickled into his darkened room, the light barely touched him but Chikage was softly illuminated by the glow of the restless city. The shadows were softer on her, it didn’t shroud her face completely but gave her a peaceful look as it melted into the light. He smiled softly at her and reached out to tuck away a piece of her hair that fluttered every time she breathed. His hand landed softly on her head as he gazed upon her lovingly, remembering how much he gave to keep her safe, to make sure that she faded away from the spotlight and be able to live a better life, liberated from thievery. Toichi would give anything to keep it that way, now more than ever for the safety of their son.

Toichi smiled sadly at that, yes, he had a family now, a family he loved above everything else, more than life itself, a family that loved him as much as he loved them.  A family he could never bare to lose. If the price to pay to keep them away from this part of his life was this, then he will pay it, he won’t put them into the line of fire, not like this.

“I’ll always love you…” His own voice sounded weak to him, he almost didn’t realize that he was the one speaking. His eyes never left Chikage as he tried to move closer to her without stirring his beloved wife from her slumber “..everything I do, I hope you know this, is for us and for our son…” He sat up quietly and leaned down so that he was inches away from Chikage’s face “..please don’t think that I’m selfish for wanting to keep you here….” The man placed a soft and loving kiss on his wife’s forehead, Chikage sighed contentedly in her sleep, mumbling words that Toichi will not understand. The man smiled at her “I love you very very much” He whispered as he leaned away from her, though, his hand stayed on top of her own as he watched the city keep itself alive. Toichi thinned his lips _‘Kaito’_  The thought of his son made the man’s heart feel less like lead but at the same time, a guilty feeling crawled deep within him for his deceit. Kaito thought the world of him, but if he knew the truth, would he still think of him as a hero?

_‘I hope you forgive me one day’_

 

* * *

  
  
Yukiko woke to the sound of the familiar ‘click-clack’ of a keyboard going a mile an hour. The woman sighed and craned her head up to the clock and found out, unhappily, that it was three in the morning, she groaned and rolled over to her side to see Yusaku hunched over the desk and typing frantically away on his computer. Yukiko huffed and sat up, massaging her temples to at least stave away the headache she knew was coming “Yusaku, I swear to god if you keep doing this I’m going to make sure that we don’t even have anything remotely electronic in our room ever again” To her surprise, Yusaku didn’t even fire back a retort to her threat like he usually did with his smug smile and mischievous gaze. That was already a cause for concern. The woman scooted to the edge of their bed and approached the man slowly “Yusaku-?”  
  
“Yukiko!” Whatever Yusaku was working on was immediately clicked out as he stared wide eyed at his wife now very much awake and suspicious of him “I didn’t- W-Why are you still awake?”

Yukiko placed her hands on her hips and looked at him incredulously “Yusaku, I should be asking YOU that question. It’s not just your stupid keyboard keeping me awake but I can practically hear that thick head of yours going a hundred miles per second!” She glanced at his computer which now only held an innocent desktop, she glared at him “You weren’t up to anything indecent were you?”  
  
“What? Yukiko I wouldn’t! I was-“ Yusaku snapped his mouth shut before he could finish his sentence, the novelist seemed to start fidgeting in his seat as Yukiko gave him no means of escaping. She crossed her arms and stared hard at him, urging him to finish his sentence, Yusaku winced “I..I was…it’s research…..”  
  
“Mhm? Research for what?” Yukiko said impatiently, finding this behavior in Yusaku mildly upsetting, he never hid much from her from the start, why was he starting now? She had noticed his behavior as of late, but she trusted him too much to think that maybe he was keeping secrets, so she let it slide for so long, but now? She didn’t think she could keep quiet for too long.

“It’s a case Yukiko, one that I’ve been on for a while but I just couldn’t solve yet, can we please just leave it at that?” Yusaku pleaded but Yukiko had none of it.

“Is this something Megure dumped on you?”  
  
“N-no! It’s a personal case-“  
  
“Personal case?!”  
  
“I mean that I took it by request! Look I just-“  
  
“Since when did you take cases by request?! You always told me that you aren’t even planning on ever starting your own agency since the police come forward with new cases for you anyway!” Yukiko took in a deep breath when she realized that her voice was starting to reach a new high, she placed her head in her hand “Kudo Yusaku, are you hiding something from me??” Her voice conveyed how hurt she felt that her husband was hiding something, even when they had promised to have no secrets between each other long before. She didn’t miss that Yusaku had turned his head away so that she couldn’t see his face, she felt her fingers digging into her skin in response.

  
“I…no no Yukiko it isn’t like that….” Yusaku sighed and rubbed his eyes, he leaned back on his chair but refused to look at his wife “It’s just that this case is REALLY sensitive and the client entrusted me with so much information that I HAVE to keep it confidential. If not I…there’s just too much riding on this okay? Please just…just stop asking…..” Yusaku peeked at his wife from behind his fingers and saw that she was looking at the ground, her lower lip being bitten nonstop by her upper teeth. She always did that when she was upset. Yusaku thinned his lips and stood up, holding Yukiko’s arms as if trying to steady her “I know that I never kept anything from you but you at least have to know that this case is…it’s dangerous Yukiko, I just don’t want you and Shinichi to get involved in some way and I…..It’s just really complicated as it is right now but I PROMISE  you that when I have it sorted out I’ll tell you everything, just please don’t be mad, understand where I’m coming from….”

He turned her head slightly so that she would be facing him again, Yukiko’s eyes glimmered but no tears fell, she let out a shaky breath “…if it’s so dangerous then why are you risking yourself? What would we do if you got hurt in some way? Are you really not thinking of the possibility that Shinichi and I could…..”  
  
“Shh shh, no…” Yusaku finally circled his arms around his wife and held her close, he tightened his hold on her when she buried her face into his shoulder and he felt something damp start to spread “I promise that I’m being as careful as I can be while I’m handling this case, I know where my limits lie Yukiko but….this case is really important to me, I can’t tell you why it is but if you knew then you would understand….”  
  
“Oh for crying out loud Yusaku this isn’t a movie!” Yukiko pushed him away and looked up at him angrily “You only made it sound as if you care about nothing but your job! Like you put it above me and our Shinichi! Don’t you get it?! I already hate that you go after criminals on a daily basis, _especially_ after what happened to you last year!” Yusaku unconsciously touched the scar on his arm but Yukiko didn’t notice “I knew you were going to get hurt one day and it _happened_ but guess what? I wasn’t ready at **all!** ” She huffed and turned to stalk back into their shared bed “I..always trusted your word…that you would come back I mean….” Her words softened ever so slightly “I know that you’ve proven how well you can handle yourself out there but…you’re just a man Yusaku” She sat down on their bed and turned the other way so that she doesn’t have to look at her husband “I wish you wouldn’t forget that you can still get hurt sometimes”  
  
Yusaku stared at her back, he frowned “Yukiko-“  
  
“Not tonight Yusaku” Yukiko said quietly, pulling their duvet over her shoulders even more “The children are sleeping, I don’t want them to hear us fighting. We’ll talk tomorrow” Yusaku opened his mouth to say something once again but felt that he really shouldn’t this time. He turned back to his computer, glancing once at Yukiko’s back, his hands hesitated over the keyboard but he eventually began to type away again as he had before Yukiko came to confront him. He didn’t hear Yukiko’s sigh, but it’s good that he didn’t, he needed to concentrate if he wanted good results from his research.

Besides, he has some people on standby on his phone, it would be rude to keep them waiting.  
  
When Yusaku began talking on his phone, Yukiko wondered if her husband was taking on something that was beyond even his prowess. She liked to believe that it wasn’t the case. She knew though that it wouldn’t be that easy anymore, she just hoped that Yusaku wouldn’t forget about them when he goes to work….  
  
“No, the details are strictly on a need to know for now……yes I know that those cases are beyond Japanese jurisdiction but I….”  
  
She hopes he would still remember that he has a family he needs to come home to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK!
> 
> But still taking college exams TwT 
> 
> There isn't much to say but buckle down because here is when we notice things are...off. The kiddos are in for a ride of their lives let me tell you that! 
> 
> HAHA!
> 
> Time to stretch out my writing again.


	10. Toichi

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is a little centered around Toichi, hi Toichi!! :D

_**One year later**  
  
  
  
_ “Argh! This doesn’t make any sense!” Many of the officers present ducked out of the way once miscellaneous items began to fly across the room. They gave each other worried looks before turning their full attention towards the main source of the impromptu projectiles “This-! This has been going on for too long!!” Inspector Nakamori grumbled unhappily in his seat, standing and sitting back down occasionally out of agitation. The officer crumbled the piece of newspaper in his hands, it talked about the latest politics in Japan and worldwide, what baseball team had recently won, new movies coming out and more, all very relevant news for many, except for Ginzo that is.  
  
“Are you sure we have the updated paper??” Ginzo turned to the police officer who had been gracious enough to bring in the offending newspaper, the man had instantly regretted it but he couldn’t do anything now “This thing is eerily familiar to the one from yesterday and weeks ago!!” Ginzo roughly unfolded the paper and squinted at it angrily, crinkling up the already tattered pages even more “God I swear I’ve seen all of this already!!”  
  
“Well sir…” The officer began, sighing inwardly when he noticed that no one else in their department would be willing enough to come help him “As you can see it has today’s date, this _is_ today’s news”  
  
“No it ain’t!” Ginzo interjected, throwing the paper away “It’s all the same! I swear it is!!”  
  
“I think all the papers have been looking the same to you for a year now Inspector” A female officer stated from her own cubicle “Ever since Kaitou KID suddenly ceased his activities” She frowned.  
  
“ _Exactly!!_ ” Ginzo acclaimed, pointing a finger at the officer “That’s the part that doesn’t make sense!!” The inspector resumed his pacing as he shot the newspaper looks, almost as though he believed the headlines would change and a picture of KID would appear, taunting smile and all “That conniving crook might’ve taken breaks like this before but _never_ for this long!” Ginzo gritted his teeth then turned sharply to slam his hands on his desk, making multiple officers jump in surprise “THAT CON COULD BE PLANNING SOMETHING _BIG_!!! I CAN _FEEL_ IT!”  
  
“ _Or”_ Another officer interjected “Maybe KID finally decided to hang up the old monocle? We haven’t received any notices for a year, so many rich folk have even goaded him on with targets that KID would take without a second glance, but he never came. If he really decided to stop thieving isn’t that a good thing??”  
  
“A _good_ thing?!” Ginzo growled, making the officer who spoke shrink back “We never caught the damn guy!! He never answered for his actions! Sure he brings back what he stole, _WHATEVER!_ He STILL _stole_ them!” The inspector jabbed a thumb towards his chest “And it’s our job as officers of the law to serve justice! No exceptions whatsoever!!” The inspector huffed and crossed his arms, glaring at the floor “This disappearance is _way_ too suspicious, the lowlife didn’t even give some sort of goodbye, he _couldn’t_ have just quit like that!”  
  
“Are you sure this is about justice, Inspector?” An officer gave him a sly smirk and Ginzo merely gave him a flat stare “Aren’t you just bored?? We know the only challenges you ever got was from KID himself, same goes to the rest of us you know” The division laughed, most remembering all the failed operations laid out to ensnare the elusive phantom thief.

“Oh god, remember that fountain debacle? Christ!”  
  
“HA! It wasn’t as bad as that whole thing with the balloon! It took us HOURS to clean!”

“I think all of you forgot about the fireworks incident!!”  
  
The whole division guffawed at the memories, and after a while Ginzo even found himself laughing along. Although all of them consisted of their failures, the officers snickered at the chaos of it, all that hassle and huffing for just one man who honestly was basically just pulling out the most complicated versions of practical jokes.  
  
It didn’t take long for the most recent subject to rear its head, the one heist case that a lot of people were still reeling from. Given that Kaitou KID himself had not spoken about what had happened only made it worse “…it wasn’t all that harmless..” Someone said, instantly silencing the jovial mood, everyone knew what they were talking about and grimaced.

Ginzo glared, an old sickening feeling worming its way into his stomach, just like the first time it had happened on that devastating night. He gritted his teeth and forced the feeling to fade “ _That wasn’t him_ ” The inspector indignantly pressed “KID would never do that on purpose”  
  
“On purpose or not, Inspector, the Koga family was….”  
  
The silence suffocated the division, it was a touchy subject, especially for Ginzo. The officer had been dealing with Kaitou KID ever since he first came to the force. He had the most experience in dealing with the thief and had known his mannerisms by heart and because of that he was confident in saying that Kaitou KID _is not a **murderer**_ “It doesn’t fit in with his MO, why would he need an explosion? It wasn’t a distraction and it wasn’t even full of those stupid streamers of his, it was a legitimate _explosive_ ” Ginzo breathed in steadily and shook his head “Whoever put it there wasn’t KID, I’m sure of it, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. _That’s that_ ” Silently seething the officer sighed loudly and collapsed back into his chair. The division knew by now that it was the end of that discussion. The inspector wouldn’t say anything else.  
  
“Kch, _we_ should have retained that case” Ginzo muttered in distain after the beat of silence that fell upon them “Technically it happened during a KID heist, it’s in _our_ division” The inspector huffed in his seat, leaning back and huffing audibly “The explosives division don’t know anything about that crook, I swear to god it wasn’t him unlike those _idiots_ ”  
  
“Well…then I guess we gotta catch him to get some answers, eh guys??” The whole division cheered at that, pulling back the earlier mood as steadily as they could.  
  
Ginzo laughed and nodded, slowly gaining back the fire he held at the thought of capturing KID “And we’ll do just that!!” He cackled. The inspector heard a faint buzzing sound and glanced down at his desk, he paled at the sight of his phone after realizing that he had left the other caller on hold for so long. The officer fumbled with the phone before shakily placing it against his ear “Ack! I’m so sorry about that Kuroba-san!! I got- er- distracted…” Ginzo glanced at the destroyed paper with a grimace.

There was a laugh from the other side “Ah, it’s alright I understand,”

 

* * *

  
  
Toichi looked up from his phone to wave at the children who had gone off ahead to feed some stray pigeons with what was left from their snacks. Kaito was the one that waved enthusiastically at him while Shinichi and Aoko gave him slight smiles and shy waves, Ran on the other hand was too busy cooing over Nami who had escaped Toichi and flew over to Kaito “I was just calling to tell you that I’ve just finished up a show and was wondering if you’d like me to keep an eye on Aoko for a while longer, or will I take her home? I’m sure Chikage will gladly look after her while you’re still at work”  
  
“Oh no it’s fine Kuroba-san! You don’t have to make the trip back” Ginzo chuckled nervously on the other line.  
  
“Really? My wife and I are fine with it, I can assure you” The magician looked up again and smiled at his son when Kaito held up a pigeon he somehow managed to tame, Toichi laughed and nodded at Kaito who beamed and began to pester Shinichi with said pigeon by intruding on his personal space with it. Toichi heard the other boy shriek in surprise when a bird was suddenly taking up his whole line of vision, Kaito laughed, and then Aoko whacked him over the head.  
  
“No no, I’ll come by to pick her up, I’m really grateful that you let her watch your show while I dealt with some other case, I couldn’t possibly impose on you more” There was a sound of shuffling papers in the back with Ginzo barking orders at someone, it sounded muffled, he must have kept the phone away from him mouth “Really thank you Kuroba-san, I’ll come by soon, you’re up in Jukka right? Tell Aoko I’ll come get her”  
  
“Alright Nakamori-san I will, goodbye” Toichi ended the call with a chuckle. He stared at the phone in his hand and shook his head in amusement. The inspector always was a very interesting character, and more importantly a very formidable ally, even if he didn’t know that himself.

Toichi frowned as he pocketed his phone. He bit his lower lip and tapped an uneasy beat on his leg. He had heard most of what Ginzo had talked about with his division, it was surprising to say the least when he realized they were talking about him but he couldn’t blame the inspector’s suspicions regarding his alter ego.

Ever since he had enlisted Yusaku’s help the feeling of being watched had increased tenfold, he didn’t know what the detective was doing exactly but he must have been making some noise, loud enough for whoever was following him to become increasingly aggressive. Toichi had asked Yusaku to tone down his investigation, he almost fainted when the novelist had admitted to contacting Interpol, and it didn’t help to ease Toichi’s nerves when global officers who had been interested in KID before would become involved in his current concerns.

Needless to say that Yusaku had pulled his strings and eased off just a bit, enough to make it seem that nothing was happening.

That lead to where Toichi was now, under the radar. He figured, after his mistake, that perhaps an effective way of shaking off his pursuers was to drop KID so fast that they wouldn’t even know what had happened. He had come to this point when his pursuers had contacted him as KID and demanded his cooperation in stealing what appeared to be random jewels, some of which he recognized and others he didn’t. The threats to his life eventually came when he blatantly refused to work with them, and that was where KID performed a grand disappearing act.  
  
He may be another good for nothing thief, but he could sense something was off about his pursuers, something about them was much _worse.  
  
_ Disappearing had done a good enough job so far, ever since he let KID take a temporary bow the eyes on his back left him. He had almost forgotten what it was like to relax and simply live the life he was supposed to from the start, although, he had concerns over whether or not Interpol would begin sniffing around for the second phantom thief to spontaneously disappear, eventually that would lead to the first one…..  
  
_“You have to trust me” Yusaku gave him a cool look as the detective laid down files upon files of information on his desk. The novelist turned full time detective stared down the stacks of paper before turning to face his friend standing behind him “Toichi you have to lay low, the more I dig into this whole…thing the more I see how dangerous it could become for you”_

 _“…what about my wife?”_  
  
_Yusaku stilled at that, looking to the side in contemplation “It’s been years…I’m sure you could afford some time to be away, the authorities are way too focused on what you had already done to pick up a cold case that’s years old.” The novelist narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose in exasperation “God….I can’t believe I’m not even turning you in right now..I mean I knew from the start but this is just- just a weird way to gain confirmation”_

 _Toichi couldn’t help the laughter that left him watching Yusaku weigh out his moral compass. Really, the novelist would have found out sooner or later anyway, their families have been spending too much time together for Yusaku to not notice at least_ one _thing. Toichi had always applauded the man’s quick wit, in and out of his ‘night life’, Yusaku had already been hinting at his guesses for years, it was only a matter of time. So in the end, confessing to his alter ego didn’t elicit much of a reaction, just a shake of the head and a sigh of exasperation._

_Besides, this one secret wasn’t worth the potential danger if he hadn’t asked for Yusaku’s help._

_“And I’m sure you’ve been patting yourself on the back ever since I told you” Toichi made a show of sighing, rolling his eyes and keeping his gaze to the ceiling while Yusaku bit his tongue to catch a retort he felt was just a tad too bitter. Toichi sent him a smirk for the stuttered reaction “Of course only_ you _would call me out for using shiny confetti instead of my usual paper ones”_

 _“Not a lot of people can see your paper ones at night, you like to draw attention, and since division two likes putting you under the spotlight the shiny confetti would be more visible_ and _serve as a temporary blinding cover”_

 _“Oh yes, the astounding deduction” Toichi chuckled, the words having no real bite to them, and dusted off his shoulder “I suppose I_ should _start cleaning up my clothes as thoroughly as possible, or else another detective like you will arrest me in broad daylight for having a KID looking shiny dove feather poking out my collar”_

 _“I highly doubt it, too illogical to deduce your alter ego from”_  
  
“Shiny confetti in my sleeve isn’t?”

 _“Not without the rest of my gathered evidence” The magician smiled at that, shaking his head as he laughed. Yusaku had been a good friend and rival, now more than ever when he found himself trapped somewhere he didn’t want to be. He doubted a simple thank you would repay all the hard work Yusaku had put in to ensure his and his family’s safety. Though, Toichi is determined to find a way to properly thank him no doubt “So anyway,” Yusaku continued “just keep to yourself alright? A little while longer should do you some good” The novelist turned and reached out to take a file but paused and hovered a hand over it instead “And you’re_ sure _no one’s been tailing you at all?” The novelist turned to regard him._

_Toichi nodded “It’s KID they’re after, not me” The magician looked out the window in Yusaku’s study. It was bright outside “they don’t know me…”_

The same bright sky from his memory bled into the reality he was in. Toichi’s eyes watched as the clouds drifting gently through the sky began to reveal more of the shimmering blue that the magician had always loved to see. It was one of the reasons why he adored doing more outdoor magic tricks these days, he hadn’t been able to appreciate the sky like he should when his mind was busy with endless amounts of work and reminders to keep up his appearance.

“I never thought I’d see you so free from stress” An old familiar voice chimed from his right side causing Toichi to smile but not look away from the sky he was gazing at. Konosuke Jii stepped into place beside the magician with a faint smile of his own, the assistant looked natural beside Toichi, as he always was “I’m happy that you’re finally finding the time to be yourself old friend, after everything that happened you deserve it”

Toichi chuckled at that, closing his eyes halfway and letting the small movements of the clouds mesmerize him into relaxing “Honestly? I only did all that to impress my wife, I looked cool didn’t I?”

Konosuke laughed heartily at that “Of course you did, _very_ cool” The assistant smiled widely as he caught sight of the children in front of them. He watched as Kaito, ever like his father, tried to emulate the recent tricks that Toichi had presented in his show, albeit with his own flair. The magician-to-be dazzled enough of his other friends gathered around him, except for the Kudo boy it seems who looked less impressed and more bored. He heard a faint yell of _‘critic!!’_ before Shinichi retorted and got blasted by an explosion of flowers. Konosuke sighed “Such a spirited one, that boy of yours. Almost like you were way back when”

There was a falter in Toichi’s smile, something his assistant noticed with a pit of underlying concern. The magician closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before lowering his head, he pocketed his hands and looked towards his companion “Konosuke…”

His name was said with seriousness that he immediately changed his demeanor “What’s wrong Toichi?”

The magician regarded him with such hidden sadness that it made Konosuke’s heart clench “All of this, me especially, everything I do?” The magician couldn’t even bare to look at him anymore, instead opting to find the visage of his son once more, that one little boy he loved so very much “I’ve bitten off more than I could chew, and it’s starting to show. I’m putting myself in danger and I’m not sure if I can….” Toichi sighed to himself, shaking his head “I need you to promise me something Konosuke”

“Anything” The assistant replied without hesitation.

“Please promise me that you’ll keep Kaito away from KID” Toichi looked back at him, noticing the way Konosuke’s expression shot to surprise for blatantly talking about his alter ego in a public place “I want him to stay as far away from this life as possible, this is the only way I know how to keep him safe. _Please Konosuke promise me you’ll keep him safe._ He’s my _son_ ”

Konosuke was at a loss for words. The assistant opened and closed his mouth until he finally found his voice again “O-Of course Toichi, of course I would keep him safe but why are you…” _‘Why did you phrase it like that?’_  He didn’t dare ask that question. Toichi was frightening him with that kind of talk, and it wasn’t the first time, this time was the only one wherein the magician had said it directly “Toichi…you have to be safe as well alright?”

Toichi gave him a smirk, though it lacked the usual confidence Konosuke was used to “That’s what I’m hoping for” Before Konosuke could question him any further, a group of very active children came racing towards Toichi, all blabbering different stories at him of what sounded like some sort of pigeon incident. That was Konosuke’s cue to leave, so he excused himself and went off before any of the children could register his presence.

“AND- AND KAITO TRIED TO MAKE AN _ARMY-!!_ ”

“WHA-?! NO!! TOU-SAN THAT’S NOT TRUE I WAS GONNA-“  
  
“BAKAITO ALMOST RUINED MY DRESS!!”

“SHINICHI WAS A STUPID _JERK!_ HE TOLD KAITO TO KEEP GOING- BOYS ARE MEAN!!”

Toichi laughed, more out of confusion and surprise at being bombarded by a story with different accounts. The magician waved his hands in a placating manner when the children started to turn against each other and begin screaming their complaints at one another “Hey hey! Everybody let’s calm down!” Toichi knelt in front of them, frowning at Aoko sniffling into her arm while Kaito gave everyone apologetic glances. The magician placed a hand on the sobbing girl’s shoulder comfortingly “Now from the start, tell me what happened”  
  
“T-there was a-a p-pigeon, a-a-and BaKaito was being s-stupid- m-my dress and- HMPH!!” Aoko hiccupped and glared at her friend, rubbing at her eyes so that Kaito wouldn’t see her cry.

“Aoko I said I was sorry!! I didn’t mean it to go like that!” Kaito tried but got another huff instead.

“Yeah but Shinichi didn’t stop it!” Ran cut in, puffing her cheeks out while Shinichi ducked from her glare “He was _laughing,_ stupid jerk!! I thought _you_ were the good influence!”

“I-It wasn’t supposed to go that far!!” Shinichi raised his hands up in defense in case Ran decided that she wanted to attack him.

Toichi sighed “Children..give me the main point, what on earth were you all-?”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” Distant screaming caught Toichi’s attention as well as the sound of multiple beating feathers. The magician stood up and gaped at the sight of wild pigeons carrying around what appeared to be bouquets upon bouquets of flowers. The magician’s eyes darted down towards his son, Shinichi, Ran, and finally Aoko whose flower patterned dress looked suspiciously torn.

Toichi put two and two together after a trail of bird treats poured out of Kaito’s sleeve “Oh my god” The magician managed through his disbelief, watching as the pigeons swooped down on unsuspecting people with flowers and flower pattered items “Kaito we are going to have a talk about bird taming when we get home” Toichi firmly told his son who only nodded as the magician circled the children and headed towards the swarming flock. With a sharp whistle the magician’s own flock of loyal doves flew out into the open, and thus began what Kaito would later deem as ‘The great bird wars’.

 

* * *

 

Toichi was still picking feathers from his person by the time everyone had settled down. The pigeon fiasco had passed, thankfully, and all of those momentarily trained birds had scattered having seen they were no match for the grace and wit of his own beloved doves.

After the whole incident, the magician had asked Konosuke to bring all of his doves home, although they were smart about outmaneuvering the pigeons, they went up against an entire flock of them _right after_ a show. He didn’t want to strain them any further. So with the doves on a safe journey back to their home, Toichi ushered the children into a nearby café to take a breath. Honestly though? He just wanted to be in a _crowded_ public area.

The magician sighed to himself, slumping against the couch he sat on while the four children across from him fussed over the youngest dove of the flock, Nami “We should have kept a closer eye on her!!” Kaito’s distress had been going on for a while now, ever since Nami took off from his side to join her brothers and sisters in the war. The young magician had faith in his father’s doves but Nami was _his_ and she was still so young, she lacked the older doves’ skills and was _way_ too inexperienced to have learned all of Toichi’s cues when he guided them through subjugating the wild pigeons. It left Nami out in the open more than once when the flock would fly in sync, Kaito was sure he almost had a heart attack “Nami-chan never never _never_ **_ever_** do that to me again! No flying without my permission, no _fighting,_ and no scaring me okay?!” Nami the dove could only coo at him, tilting her head in every direction through his whole lecture, not giving any cares like a bird would.

“She’s as stubborn as you are” Shinichi said, twisting a piece of tissue around his hand “I don’t think she’ll listen to you any more than you listen to me”

“What?! I listen to you Shin-chan!” Kaito huffed, letting Nami go.

The dove hopped over to where Ran was sitting, making the girl giggle and brush down the remaining unruly feathers she had acquired from the scuffle “At least she’s safe now right?” She cooed at the bird who cooed back at her.

Aoko smiled brightly at Nami and began to pet her the same way Ran was doing as well “Heck yeah! Nami-chan’s a very brave birdy! She’s a strong girl!!”

Nami preened at all the praises and attention she had gained, puffing up her chest like a proud hero of a war. Shinichi rolled his eyes at the bird, finding her too similar to the magician she belonged to. Toichi laughed “You spoil her too much”

“Oooof course tou-san” Kaito drawled, looking at him with incredulity, as if what he had just told them was an outrageous thought “You told me once that your doves were like family, don’t think I didn’t see you cuddling Kimby-chan”

Toichi felt himself become flustered at the accusation. He wouldn’t say it out loud but Kimby, one of his show doves, was certainly one of his most favored companions. He heard Kaito laugh at him, only serving to fluster him even more “Kaito” He said in warning.

“OH OH OH!!” Kaito suddenly exclaimed, standing on the couch and facing his equally surprised friends “Mama told me this story once! She came home one night and found tou-san upstairs cooing and cuddling something in a blanket. He kept going _‘aaa boo! Peek-a-boo!’_ kaa-san thought he was cuddling _me_ ” Kaito snickered unable to finish the story in his fit of laughter.

Shinichi was able to piece the story together and stifled his laugh when he glanced at the older magician who looked ready to burst “T-Toichi-ojisan?” The young Kudo bit his lower lip.

“Aaaa! That’s so cuuuute! Can we meet Kimby-chan Toichi-ojisan??” At least the girls didn’t make fun of him, Toichi thought as he inwardly sulked. Ran and Aoko immediately went into how caring he was towards his doves and how they wanted to see his favorite dove, Kimby.

“If we find the time again I would be glad to introduce you to Kimby” Toichi smiled at them, shooting his son an exasperated look which was only returned by a smug grin “Sadly, she’s quite old now, Kimby doesn’t fly as often as she used to, so we keep her at home”

“Yeah! Nami-chan visits her sometimes in the dove pen!!” Kaito added.

Toichi huffed a laugh and nodded in agreement. The kids went back to talking about other topics, most of which Toichi couldn’t contribute anything to so he settled with watching them. The magician propped up his elbow on the table and leaned his cheek against the palm of his hand, a deep fondness for the little ones laughing and playing shining through his eyes.

Then his heart began to beat wildly.

Toichi’s eyes widened just a fraction, to anyone who wasn’t paying attention his adoring fatherly gaze never wavered. In reality, Toichi’s heart started to feel painful against his ribcage, the adrenaline shot through him so suddenly that he was almost disoriented by the hypersensitivity it brought. There was a ringing in his ears like he never heard before, the lights were too bright, the people too noisy, he couldn’t _breathe-_

Toichi gulped in a breath, though he tried not to make it obvious. Poker face in place, the magician scanned the room for anything that could have caused his reaction. His fingers dug into the table as his eyes passed by too many faces, none he recognized. It didn’t make him feel any better. His throat felt constricted, Toichi let out a cough and downed the glass of water they were offered a few moments before. He cleared his throat, ignoring the bead of sweat that ran down the side of his face.

“Tou-san?” At that moment, Toichi noticed that the delightful chatter had ceased and the children were all looking at him curiously, more importantly, Kaito was watching him with an air of concern. Nami cooed, uncomfortable, until Shinichi offered an arm out to her and petted the back of her head, the dove seemingly watched her distressed owner as well now that she was closer to him. Kaito’s eyes darted across Toichi’s face, he noticed the subtle signs of fear, just knowing that scared him as well. He swallowed “Tou-san are you okay?”

“I’m…” Toichi gazed at his son steadily, but movement behind his boy made him tense.

In Toichi’s mind, he had heard the deafening sound of a domino piece toppling over, the very first one. If there were such a thing as the course of fate, some part of him knew that the split second of here and now would become the first link in a long, winding and twisted chain. It was like watching the whole world slow down, suddenly it was quiet, he could hear himself breathing, he could feel the blood in his veins rush through him, he could feel his heart stutter, but none of it mattered.

It was such a simple action, accidental on most days for _so_ many people. Harmless and somewhat flustering if one wasn’t very keen on getting noticed by someone else entirely. For Toichi, he often flashed a smile with a coupled friendly gaze, it won him many acquaintances in the past and he rather prided himself in turning a stranger into a friend with just one look.

Toichi had locked eyes with someone.

_He didn’t smile back._

“I’m fine Kaito” Toichi smiled down at his son, pulling himself away from that split second.

Toichi heard the ringing of the café door’s bell as heavy boots left the vicinity.

That bell went on forever, Toichi couldn’t stand it.

 

* * *

 

“Aaand what have we here!?” Ginzo laughed as he picked his daughter up and spun her around, making Aoko squeak in delight, cuddling closer to her father “My what a spoiled princess! Getting free VIP tickets to a magic show twice?? Oh the injustice of it all! You’re living the life while your poor tou-san slaves away dealing with idiots!!”

Aoko giggled as Ginzo gave her nose a quick kiss, she patted his head “Don’t worry papa! You’ll get a vacation soon! That dummy KID is gone now so you can relax right?”

Ginzo grinned up at her, lifting her over his head and chuckling at her excited squeals “Well I suppose so! Just don’t hope for papa to run out of a job, that crook may have given me headaches but he did keep my job stable” The inspector lowered his daughter, opting to carry her normally when she showed signs of exhaustion with a small yawn “I’ll be able to spend more time with you now, at least that’s one good thing” Aoko hummed happily at him, eyes half drawn to a close as she smiled and leaned against her father’s shoulder.

Ginzo melted at the sight, having missed his precious little girl significantly as he was unable to be with her almost the whole day. He adjusted his hold on her and turned his smile to the other adult with him “Thank you so much for looking after her Kuroba-san, I really appreciate it”

Toichi shrugged at him “Always happy to help a friend. Besides, it’s not easy being a single parent, and with such a job as yours”

The inspector sighed heavily, without jostling his dozing daughter “Right you are but I can’t do much about it” His gaze fell on his daughter, the inspector tucked a stray hair away from her face when he noticed it coming too close to her mouth “It gets hard, but I’ll keep trying my best anyway. I’ve gotta be two parents in one y’know?” The inspector laughed but Toichi only pursed his lips.

Glancing at his watch the inspector tsked and shook his head “I’ve gotta get Aoko home now, it’s getting late” He nodded at Toichi as he began to make his walk back to his car “Thanks again Kuroba-san! I owe you one”

Toichi waved goodbye “I’ll hold you to that” He heard Ginzo’s laugh before the man rounded a corner, making the magician smile, even if it was small. He turned his attention to the remaining set of children with him, purposely avoiding Kaito’s gaze “Well, I suppose we’re all stuck here waiting for the women hm?”

“Tou-san you’re sure you’re fine?” Kaito questioned.

“Yeah Toichi-ojisan, you don’t look too good” This time it was Shinichi, shooting him an identical look. Ran said nothing but Toichi was sure she was thinking the same thing, she was looking at him the same way Chikage did when he was ill.

Toichi inwardly grimaced, while he was always proud of the children’s perceptiveness, he dreaded having it directed at him. The magician waved a hand at their questioning “Yes I’m fine, don’t worry too much about it alright children? It’s just…some adult things”

Shinichi, Kaito, and Ran all looked to each other, not buying the excuse for a second. The two boys in particular had knowing looks about them, they had dealt with the excuses for a time already, Toichi was lying about something.

In an effort to diffuse the atmosphere, Toichi clapped his hands together. The three children jumped at the sound and looked up at him only to be amazed when the magician pulled his hands apart slowly, creating a very big bubble “You want to see a trick I’ve been working on?” He grinned when all three of them nodded, easily and willingly forgetting about the earlier topic.

 

* * *

 

 “You’re fine now though aren’t you?”

Yukiko frowned when Eri gave her a small shrug, absentmindedly stirring her drink in her cup as they walked. Her friend sighed as she stared down at the contents of the liquid “I….I don’t know what to do to be honest..” Eri bit her lower lip and swallowed “Kogoro used to be so different, I thought I knew him but…apparently I don’t even know who I married anymore” Chikage patted her back in an effort to comfort her. They had, after all, went out in order to cheer her up.

The year before hadn’t been kind to Eri, too many fallouts with her husband had driven both of them against the wall, too many disagreements, too many fights. Eri couldn’t even remember a time when Kogoro and she had exchanged words of love, it was far from it. She had been left with two choices in the end, stay or go, and it was clear now what she chose.

Kogoro wasn’t around much, and Eri didn’t want him to be. In Eri’s perspective she felt selfish, to just up and leave her family so suddenly seemed so unfair, surely Kogoro had his fair share of scars, but it was in the heat of the moment, when she was hurt and nursing a broken heart, when she couldn’t stand the strain, when she had enough. With what little care she had for the man she didn’t dare take their Ran away from him, despite how awful he could be Eri knew for certain that he loved their little girl very much, more than anything, even her perhaps. With Ran around, someone would still be there to love and care for Kogoro, Eri knew she was strong, but her husband was something else.

_“Where are you going kaa-san?” Ran watched, afraid, as her mother packed her bags. Most of her belongings had already been taken away, leaving almost no trace of her in their home other than the pictures._

_Eri stilled her hands and tensed. She turned and knelt down to her daughter’s height, kissing her forehead then pulling her close against her “Ran, my sweet little girl…” Eri swallowed hard, trying to keep herself from shaking as she held her daughter tight, she wasn’t sure of how often she’ll be able to anymore “Could I ask you to do something? Could your kaa-san ask you for something important??” Eri held Ran’s shoulder’s as she looked in to her daughter’s eyes. Her vision swam for a second but she blinked away the dampness in her eyes._

_“W-what’s that?” Ran had asked her, wide eyed and confused._

_“Take care of your father darling, make sure that he doesn’t lose himself” Eri gave her daughter her most pleading gaze. She never broke eye contact, neither had Ran._

_The little girl looked behind her mother, at all the bags, at all the items wrapped in plastic, at all the empty space._

_“Okay mama”_

“Take as much time as you need” Chikage told her as she rubbed her back “Men are a different breed, give it some time, maybe Kogoro will change”

“I hope” Eri tried to smile, it wasn’t much of a success.

The three women chatted idly for a time, slowly approaching their agreed upon meeting place with Toichi, only when they drew near did they find quite the unusual scene. Chikage was the first to stop and stare, causing her two other companions to nearly run into her as she had placed her arms out to stop them. Eri protested but fell silent when she heard the familiar squeal of her daughter, full of delight and energy like she always was.

The children ran around corralling what appeared to be _giant_ bubbles, all three of them stacked what bubbles they managed to catch on top of a bubble tower where, right next to it, Toichi set to work creating more and more of the soapy orbs. The magician himself was chuckling at the children, watching them run around and fan the bubbles towards the tower that had unsurprisingly surpassed his own height. Toichi sputtered when a bubble he was creating popped in his face when he wasn’t paying attention, making Kaito laugh at him, the older magician retaliated by trapping the boy in one of the bubbles. He laughed loudly when Kaito shrieked as the bubble popped.

“Tou-san you got me wet!!” Kaito huffed, shaking himself when he felt the sticky soapy substance seep into his shirt “That was mean!!”

“Gee and laughing at your dad wasn’t?” Shinichi retorted from behind him. Before Kaito could shoot back however, Shinichi sent the bubble he was corralling towards Kaito. The young Kudo barked out a laugh, short but loud, when Kaito turned to face him only to have a face full of soap yet again causing the young Kuroba to cough and spit.

“AUGH! _SHIN-CHAN MY MOUTH WAS OPEN!! **BLEHCK!!** ” _ Kaito rubbed at his tongue then yelled in disgust when he realized his hands had soap on them as well, making the gross taste of soap spread even more in his mouth. The young magician heard Shinichi’s laugh comeback tenfold and decided to do something about it.

By now, Kaito knew for a fact that Shinichi _hated_ getting unnecessarily dirty, especially if he could have avoided it. As sneakily as he could, the young magician crept up to his friend and slipped a certain little experimental device into his shirt. Shinichi felt it enter his collar and froze up once Kaito darted away from him “Kaito what did you-?!” The effect was immediate. As soon as Shinichi made to step for him, the device exploded, causing a sticky mass of pink goo to escape from within Shinichi’s shirt. The young Kudo shrieked in surprise and nearly slipped on the pink goo in the process. Once it was over and Shinichi was finished expressing his overwhelming disgust, the young detective turned his glare towards his laughing friend, too busy being amused by his predicament to notice him glaring.  
  
“KAITO YOU’RE DEAD!!” Shinichi made to lunge at him, instead he slipped and fell to the floor, more of the pink goo had cushioned his fall but all it did was further disgust him.

The spectacle only sent Kaito into another fit of laughter, but this time Toichi sent him a sly smirk he didn’t see as the older magician simply pushed him forward. The soap and some goo caused Kaito to slip further than intended, making him collide with Shinichi who was about to stand and try to throttle the magician again. The two boys landed in a heap, Shinichi was the fastest out of the two of them to recover from it as he began to squish the pink goo into Kaito’s hair and shirt “Idiot magician! How would you like it if you felt all _gross!!_ ”

“I’m okay with it Shin-chan! I got covered in this stuff _loooots_ of times already!”

“Yeah but I wasn’t  _idiot magician!_ " Shinichi growled, piling more and more of the pink goo on top of his friend. It was then that Kaito noticed how heavy the stuff actually was when stacked all together, cutting off all his movement. It sent a nervous chill down his spine when Shinichi didn't seem to want to stop.

“U-Uh Shin-chan!! _Shin-chan thats too close to my face!!!_ ” Kaito flailed against his friend trying to make him into a pink goo mummy, clumsily slapping his hands away from him while he clamored for an escape route. He spotted Ran standing some ways away from them with Nami happily perched on her shoulder, he gave her a pleading look “Ran-chaaaan!! HEEEEEELP!”

Ran crossed her arms and smirked at him “You gotta face the consequences of your actions Kaito-kun! Mama told me that’s how people learn!”

Her reply was a pitiful whine as Kaito graciously accepted his fate and was covered from head to toe with pink goo of his own making. Oh how ironic for the creator to fall to his creation.

“You know that you’re going to have to clean that right dear?” Chikage walked over to her husband with a smile of her own. She chuckled as Kaito simply laid down on the ground while Shinichi proceeded to bury him away.

“Which one are you referring to? The street or our son?” Toichi bit the corner of his lower lip to try and stop his smile, he failed significantly when Chikage elbowed him.

“Sometimes I wonder if it’s _you_ who needs a babysitter, luckily we have Yusaku”

“Did you just degrade Yusaku, _the oh so great novelist extraordinaire_ , to a personal babysitter?? Oh ho, he wouldn’t like that my darling”

“The title suits him actually” Yukiko waltzed in, grinning from ear to ear at her two friends “In fact he told me to _‘tell that mad man to tone down being stupid for a little while longer’_ when I would meet you again Toichi-sensei” Yukiko had said it in her best impression of Yusaku, slightly slumping from exhaustion and all. It was enough to make Toichi laugh but one part of him was concerned for the novelist’s own health.

“I’m not your teacher anymore Yukiko” Toichi reminded the actress “You can do everything I’ve taught you well enough, I think we’re well past being just student and teacher now yes?” The magician smiled at her, surprising Yukiko when she felt some sort of emotion wafting off Toichi, it felt…happy yet saddened “I’d be awfully glad if you considered me as a friend, if not well, that just makes those years we spent a little awkward for me having assumed….”

“Oh no Toichi!” Yukiko waved her hands with a chuckle _‘Aw’_ she thought _‘Toichi-sensei’s so sweet…if only Yusaku talked like that…’_ “Of _course_ you’re my friend! But I’ll always have respect for you as a teacher, if you don’t mind” She winked.

“I don’t” Toichi winked back. The two of them laughed.

“Oi oi, no flirting with my _husband_ thank you very much” Chikage huffed, wrapping her arms around Toichi in a possessive hug “Go get yours! This one’s mine” Though, she had said it in good faith, smiling just a tad at her friend “Sorry you got lumped in with a mystery geek, but this exciting work of art and life chose me”

“Ooooh reaaally?” Yukiko placed her hands on her hips, giving Chikage a raised eyebrow look “Toichi may have a way with actions but my Yuu-chan has a way with _words”_ She made a show of fanning herself as she sighed dreamily “One day Toichi will run out of acts of grandeur but my Yusaku will always be able to paint me a picture with his poetic words, it’s no _wonder_ he’s a writer!”

“Honey, your geekboy sells books with murders in it. Hardly romantic”

“ _Poetic_ I didn’t say anything about romance missy!”

While the two women began to compare husbands, Toichi decided that maybe hearing himself be compared to his friend romance wise is not in his best interest. So he sneaked away from the two, joining the third woman they brought along with them when he spotted her watching them with an exasperated smile. As always, the magician introduced himself with a white rose, surprising the woman but it elicited a smile no less as she took it from him “Do you treat all the ladies like this?” She asked with a smirk.

“I believe that everyone deserves equal courtesy, a gentleman would then extend such accordingly”

“My, I would assume you are a gentleman then Kuroba-san?”

“I would like to think so”

Eri giggled at that, she twirled the white rose in her hand and looked up to watch her little girl finally help Toichi’s own son out of his pink death trap “Well, Chikage is very lucky to have found you then”

“Oh the stories I’m not allowed to tell” Toichi teased but stopped when he noticed how forlorn Eri had become while watching her daughter. The magician sighed at her expression, glancing at Ran ever so often “Mouri-san-“

“Kisaki”

“What?”

“It’s Kisaki now” Eri corrected, gripping the flower in her hand tighter. Toichi noticed.

“…Kisaki-san” The magician started carefully, knowing that the atmosphere had suddenly become dangerous to tread upon “I will never be privy to what may have transpired in your life, it’s none of my business,” Toichi gave her a soft look when Eri directed her gaze towards him. The magician nodded at her and inched his head towards the direction of the children “but I do see that you care about your daughter very much. Ran-chan is still so young, you may be going through something as of the moment but don’t forget how much you love your daughter”

“Well of course I wouldn’t! Did it seem like I was?” Eri was a little offended but stilled when she saw Toichi’s expression.

“No, but we adults tend to get wrapped up in our own worlds sometimes, we have lapses and they could get out of hand when we least expect it..” Toichi shook his head and shot her one of his world famous jovial smiles, almost startling Eri at the sudden shift “Eh, ah I seem to have rambled, excuse me Kisaki-san”

“Oh it’s fine Kuroba-san…” Eri’s eyebrows knitted together, the gears in her head began to spin as she watched Toichi’s mannerisms and finding that….she didn’t like any of it “Are you alright-“

“MAMA!!” Eri snapped her attention towards the sound of her daughter’s voice. She smiled widely and knelt with open arms when Ran came running towards her, Eri held her daughter close once Ran was within her reach “Mama I missed you!!”

“Oh Ran sweetie” Eri cooed, picking up the little girl and holding her close to her chest “I told you I would still come to see you right?”

“It’s not the same though!” Ran pouted at her “Why don’t you just come back home??”

“That’s a little bit complicated Ran” Eri told her with a slight shake of her head. It was only then that she realized, amidst her daughter’s ramblings, that Toichi had managed to sneak away from her before she could ask him some serious questions.

By the end of the day, the respective parents set out to take their children back home, there were some protests (mostly from Kaito) but they finally got to part ways after the young magician of the group had properly said goodbye to his remaining friends.

“You’ve gotta come more!” Kaito told Ran after giving the girl a new ribbon for her hair with a wave of his hand.

“I might, if you’re lucky” Ran teased, giving her newfound friend a noogie “I’m tired of seeing Shinichi’s face all the time, seeing it twice is a headache”

“ _Hey_ ” Shinichi huffed at her, earning a shoulder dig from his best friend

Ran stuck out her tongue at him then smirked at the two of them “Weeeell, I’m gonna go over there with my mom so Kaito-kun could give you a proper goodbye Shinichi” Ran jumped her eyebrows at Kaito who only tensed a little bit, he puffed his cheeks out at her, she laughed and scampered on to leave them alone.

“What was that about?” Shinichi furrowed his eyebrows, watching her retreating back.

“Dunno Shin-chan, aren’t cha guys best friends or something? _You_ should know” Kaito blew out air, watching Ran leave as well. He sighed and turned his attention back at Shinichi “Well? C’mere dork face, you know what I want” Kaito held his arms out towards Shinichi, to which the young detective grimaced at and moved back when he stepped closer.

“You’re _dirty_ why’d I wanna hug you?!”

“Whose fault is that Shin-chan?” Kaito pouted but didn’t put down his arms “It’s _tradition_ Shin-chan, when we say goodbye I hug you and you hug me back! Easy peasy, we’ve been doing it for _years_ ”

“Well-! I don’t wanna!! You’re covered in slime and rocks and dirt and-!”

“Oh shut up neat freaky!” Kaito surged forward and pulled Shinichi into a bone crushing hug. The young Kudo yelped and hit his shoulder but gave up after Kaito’s grip hadn’t faltered despite his incessant wriggling, Shinichi ignored the combined sandy sticky feeling of Kaito’s clothes and hugged the magician back, like he always did “I’m glad you came today” Kaito told him when he pulled away, though he didn’t relinquish his hold on his friend “I haven’t been feeling too good ever since…um, dad came back and started acting weird..”

Shinichi raised an eyebrow at him “And..what did I do?”

“Duh Shin-chan” Kaito beamed at him and Shinichi felt like he was staring straight at the sun by how bright his friend’s smile was. Try as he might, he didn’t think he could get used to Kaito’s smiles “You came when I asked you to, even if it wasn’t anything special. I got to see you again” There was a certain emotion on Kaito’s face, Shinichi couldn’t really place it but he swore he saw it once..didn’t his mom-

Kaito’s cough brought him out of his musings as the young magician let go of him. His friend turned to his side and darted his eyes to the ground, then at him sometimes, it _really_ confused Shinichi. Kaito’s been acting weirder than usual actually, but he chalked it up to how weird Toichi was acting as well “So uh, yeah” Kaito coughed into his sleeve again, making Shinichi worry that maybe his friend was getting sick “T-Thanks for coming I uh- ehem”

Shinichi reached a hand out, patting Kaito on the back “Kaito are you sick-“

“Here!” The young Kudo blinked in surprise when the signature white flower was held out to him again, the very same one Kaito had given him all those years ago “Tradition right? I would give you a rose _buuut_ you’d just be all ‘oh I saw it come out of your sleeve ooooh I’m so smart’” His earlier attitude had been replaced with his usual cheeky one, the young Kudo rolled his eyes at the change but set it aside for now.

Shinichi huffed at him, snatching the flower from his fingers “That’s because you _aren’t good yet_ , didn’t I tell you that you shouldn’t do bigger flowers until you perfected small ones?”

“ _Whaaat?!_ You didn’t even see it come out from my sleeve!! I was _fast!!_ ”

“Sure, whatever _idiot magician_ ” Kaito laughed at that, shaking his head.

“Alright whatever _tantei-kun_ , I’ll see you again yeah?” The magician turned to leave, but a hand on his shoulder stopped his departure. Kaito looked back in confusion and was met with Shinichi’s gaze of concern that he was increasingly growing familiar with.

“Hey…about your dad” Shinichi gave him a sad look that was quickly replaced with reassurance “Don’t be too down about it ok? Your dad’s plenty smart, I’m sure he’ll have whatever it is figured out somehow. Besides,” Shinichi looked away for a second in embarrassment, having second thoughts about what he was about to say but ultimately figured that Kaito deserved to hear it anyway “you can talk to me right? I’m always up for it”

Kaito stared back at him, eyes shining with a hidden emotion, more so now that the sky had begun to grow dark, streetlights illuminating only so much of the young magician’s face, something Shinichi was suddenly bothered with, the shadows hide Kaito’s face too much. He didn’t expect his friend to turn around and hug him again, it happened so quick that Shinichi didn’t even get to move from his startled position “Thanks Shin-chan” Kaito whispered before pulling back with a smile. The magician let him go, bowed dramatically, then winked and waved him off as he approached his dad “Till next time Shin-chan! See you whenever Ran!!” He called to his two friends.

“Bye Kaito-kun!!” Ran called out, waving as well. Shinichi said nothing but waved along with his best friend, both watching as Toichi took his son’s hand, offered a farewell to the two other mothers, and set off with his whole family. Once they were far, Ran turned a knowing look towards Shinichi, one that the other didn’t take too kindly to “Two hugs ey?” Ran giggled.

Shinichi frowned at her “And what’s _that_ supposed to mean?”

“Oooh, nothing Shinichi” Ran winked, Shinichi’s frown deepened.

“This has been fun” Yukiko cut in, smiling at Eri and her daughter “Call me sometime ok? I think it’d be better if you talked once and a while” She told her friend, putting a hand to the other woman’s shoulder.

“There’s nothing to talk about but…I’ll take you up on that offer” Eri smiled back and held her daughter’s hand “Thank you for agreeing to this Yukiko really, I think I needed this”

“It’s no trouble Eri! Anytime!” Yukiko’s jovial mood managed to lift Eri’s as well. She wondered what she had done to earn Yukiko’s friendship sometimes.

“Well this is goodbye for now, say goodbye to your oba-san Ran” Yukiko’s offended look was enough for Eri to laugh.

“Bye Yukiko- _oneesan_ ” Ran gave her mom a pointed look, mouthing ‘ _that’s mean’_ at her, her mother petted her hair as a response while Yukiko beamed at her “Bye Shinichi! Next time, keep Kaito in line” She chided before her mother pulled her along.

Ran heard a faint _‘I’m not his keeper!’_ when she had crossed a distance from the two Kudos. She giggled to herself and decided to just watch what happens for now.

 

* * *

 

Toichi looked at his packed bags.

The magician counted his clothes countless times, even some of his props that he was _sure_ was the correct amount for his days away. He looked at his phone and checked the multiple texts he had shot off to his assistant, each asking for the status of his show doves, again and again Konosuke’s reply would either be _‘Yes Toichi’_ , ‘ _Of course Toichi’_ or _‘They’re fine Toichi’._ It’s not that the magician didn’t trust Konosuke, the man was in fact one of the very few he trusted the most, he just felt….even more jittery than usual.

This particular performance had been planned months in advance. He was to have a certain week of magic in areas around Kobe, it was mostly just some sort of tourist promotional act he was hired for but he had taken up the challenge of performing new tricks somewhere outside Tokyo, he hadn’t been particularly familiar with Kobe either which made it an even more exciting challenge to pull off.

New tricks, new locations, two things Toichi was always very keen on trying, it helped him expand his knowledge and flexibility as both a magician and KID to an extent when it came to critical thinking and location mapping. He had to use different items and settings to his advantage, to adapt, it never failed to give him a thrill but..

 “Are you sure you should be doing this?” Toichi jumped in surprise at the sudden intrusion. He whirled around and clutched at his heart, he stared disbelievingly at his wife who regarded him with a frown.

“Oh lord! Chikage don’t sneak up on me!” Toichi wheezed and patted his chest a few times “I know it’s out of habit but be louder when you walk next time! I’m not as young as I used to be” He flashed his wife a teasing smile, it faltered when she didn’t smile back.

“Toichi we need to talk” Chikage’s voice was a clean cut, no nonsense, and _very_ serious. She crossed the room and sat on their shared bed, patting the space beside her for Toichi to occupy “And don’t you _dare_ try to escape” She growled when she caught Toichi’s eyes momentarily dart to the door _and_ window.

The magician grimaced. Just hearing _‘We need to talk’_ already had him fearing for his life, especially since his own wife had said it. With reluctance, Toichi slowly sat down beside his wife and watched her for any possible negative reaction. Sure, he was the master of escape tricks, escaping his wife however required a greater dose of finesse “…what’s this about Chikage?” He started when his wife seemed only content with staring him down.

Chikage gave him one last look over before she sighed “I’m worried about you Toichi” She muttered, wrapping her arms around herself “Sure, you have _less_ work than usual, but something about your mannerisms and actions haven’t been….good lately” The woman leveled him with a serious gaze “Toichi, you’re _scared_ of something” She bit her lower lip when she noticed the way Toichi tensed up momentarily despite his cool façade. Her husband opened his mouth, probably to defend himself, but she raised a hand to stop him “Ah ah, Toichi I’m not done” Chikage frowned at him then continued “You’re trying so hard to deny this but don’t think I haven’t been aware. _Why have you been contacting Yusaku?”_

Toichi gaped at her, for once his mask slipped as his wife called him out on a lie. He had been so _careful_ how had he missed her knowing?? Toichi scrambled to piece himself together again, enough for him to create a valid response “Chikage that….I was having difficulty with some- some _stalker_ and I just-“

“A _stalker?!_ ” Chikage echoed incredulously, one hand flying up to her chest as she stared at her husband in shock “Toichi! A _stalker?!_ How _dangerous_ is this stalker of yours that you have to ask _Yusaku_ for help?!!?” Chikage stood up and ran a hand through her hair “I- How long has this been going on for?!”

“Chikage calm down please-“

“Toichi how could you ask me to calm down?!” Chikage was nearly yelling, she had heard some of their conversations, it annoyed her how they spoke around it but she could piece together tidbits of it well enough to know how _serious_ it was. The way her husband sounded so _cornered_ on the phone didn’t help, asking someone else for help- especially Yusaku –was already a testament in itself “I find out that you’re being _stalked_ by someone and that they might be dangerous! Enough to ask Yusaku to investigate and enough to have _you_ spooked! Toichi **_what is going on?!_** ” She had yelled, she never had to before, she stared wide eyed at Toichi after her panic subsided. Months and months of bottling up how she felt came crashing into that one moment, it left her breathless and made her head buzz.

Toichi stared at his wife, mouth left open as he didn’t know what to say. He grimaced and gripped onto his arm, what can he tell her? “The…the truth..” Toichi swallowed hard, refusing to look at Chikage “You want the truth right?” The magician looked back at his wife, her eyes still wide and afraid but she nodded at him nonetheless. Toichi took in a deep breath “The truth is…the truth is it’s been going on for maybe two years now” Chikage gasped at him but he didn’t stop himself “I wasn’t lying when I told you it was a stalker I just…yes they’re dangerous, at least I think they are, call it a gut feeling but I didn’t feel good when I knew they were around” Toichi rubbed the back of his neck and hissed a breath out through his teeth “I didn’t know what to do, I couldn’t catch them in the act no matter what I did _which is why_ I asked Yusaku for help because between him and me, he was better at investigating” Toichi turned away from his wife, letting his hand fall to his side tiredly “Honestly Chikage could you blame me? I didn’t know what to do, I knew this might happen someday because of all the attention I was getting, I just…I didn’t want you _or_ Kaito involved in this, I was just waiting for it to die out with Yusaku’s help”

Chikage hesitated, she took tentative steps towards her husband and reached out to hold his hand, she felt him squeeze back “Are you _okay_ Toichi? Are you _safe?_ Please be truthful” She pleaded, staring up into her husband’s eyes when Toichi turned his head to look at her.

There was a moment of silence ”For now I am, Yusaku managed to get the stalker off me for a year now, I promise you this is the truth”

Chikage searched his eyes, when Toichi didn’t falter his gaze she nodded and hugged him close. The woman buried her face into her husband’s shirt, noticing the faint scent of flowers he always carried with him, how soft and steady his heart beats against his chest, and how gently he circled his arms around her and hugged her back. This is how she remembers her Toichi, how loving and gentle he was, she doesn’t realize it yet, but this is how she remembers her Toichi.

The magician himself, standing there in the loving embrace of his wife, watching her soft and tender eyes look up at him, her warm smile, the way she held him close. He loved this woman with every fiber of his being, she was the best thing to have ever happened to him. It was then and there that Toichi looked upon himself, wondering how Chikage viewed him. Everything that he was and is, well, it only further led him to believe…

..he was a horrible husband.

_A liar._

_  
_

* * *

 

“You’ll contact us often alright?” Chikage stood at the doorstep, watching her husband load his luggage into a car accompanied by his assistant.

Toichi turned back and walked up to the steps of their house with a bright smile, like usual. He kissed his wife and nodded “Everyday ma’am” He saluted at her, making his wife giggle before he handed her a ruby rose with a wave of his hand, Chikage took it with a smile of her own.

“Don’t push yourself tou-san” A small voice called from behind Chikage. Toichi knelt down and gave his son a pat on the head while Kaito narrowed his eyes at him, berating “Last time you got sick and tired! Sleep okay?!”

Toichi laughed at that, petting his son one last time before giving him a light pinch on the cheek “Alright, alright Kaito-sama, will do” He winked at his son “Take care of your mom for me Kaito, treat her well while I’m gone”

Kaito rubbed at his cheek, the one Toichi had pinched, he nodded enthusiastically to his request “Can do cap’n dad!!” He placed a fist to his chest before raising it in the air, Toichi smiled at him.

The magician stood back up to look at his wife, Chikage stared back. The two adults stood there, not saying anything for a time. Toichi sighed at her, he reached out a hand and cupped the side of her cheek, Chikage blinked at him in surprise before Toichi leaned forward to capture her lips in a long loving kiss, the magician’s other arm wrapped around her middle as Toichi pulled her close, closer than they had in their room, as if trying to meld Chikage into him, almost desperately so as his hold on her tightened. Finally he let her go, but kept a hand to the side of her face, with adoration and fondness, Toichi stared into her eyes “I love you Chikage, very much so” he mumbled in the space between them.

Chikage’s eyes shone with emotion at her husband’s actions. She felt her face redden due to his forwardness, something he hadn’t quite shown much of since their first meeting, her eyes lowered just a little as she smiled back at him, a warmth that was always there blossoming forth with intensity “And I love you Toichi, very much as well”

“Bleeeeh!” The two grownups chuckled at their son once they glanced down to find him grimacing at both of them “EEEW! Shinichi was right, grownups are super gross!!”

“Well Kaito, say that again when you’re all grown up and _you_ find that special someone” Toichi mock chided before hugging Chikage close again “Your mother just happens to be _my_ special someone”

“Oh stop it you, not in front of Kaito” Chikage giggled, batting at her husband playfully.

“Ew, ew, EW!! STOP!!!” Kaito came in between them, making both of the adults laugh.

The car’s horn pulled the family from their reverie, signaling that it was time for goodbyes to be said. Toichi smiled at the two people he loved, giving them both one last hug before he left, though he gave Kaito one last message as well “Listen well Kaito, speaking from experience you shouldn’t overestimate what your abilities can do, know where your limits lie, but if you want to become better, learn how to improve yourself step by step, alright?”

Kaito looked confused but took his father’s words to heart “Okay tou-san!”

Toichi stepped away from them, he turned to leave but waved to his family as he went “I’ll see both of you soon!”

“Alright Toichi! Have fun and _remember!_ Be safe!!”

“Bye tou-san! Take care!!”

Toichi waved at them from his seat even as the car began to drive away. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from his home, or the direction of it at least, the memory of his family burned into his mind so vividly that he felt himself reeling from the feel of it “We’ll be transferring a lot before we could get to Kobe y’know” Konosuke’s jovial tone beside him barely registered into his mind “I’ve heard of some good places to eat too and- Toichi?”

Toichi rubbed at his eyes before he turned to face his friend “Oh, I’m sorry Konosuke what was that? I’m afraid I was lost in thought” Konosuke stared at him in concern for a while before shakily returning to his topic.

Toichi felt the paper in his pocket burn his skin by its mere presence.

 

_Kuroba Toichi,_

_You lose._

_  
_

* * *

_“Police have reported that the victim of the recent tragedy is none other than renowned magician, Kuroba Toichi. There have been no signs of foul play as of yet but investigations are still on-going. It seems that the magician had come to Kobe to perform his long awaited ‘Week of Magic’, many had gathered to watch his astounding performances only to be horrified at the latest and now last of the great magician’s escape tricks. Many believe it may have been a failure in the magician’s mechanisms-“_

The television was abruptly turned off as a plate met the ground and shattered loudly, the sound echoed in the deathly silent mansion as Yukiko shakily held the remote in one hand, the very same remote met the plate’s end and clattered to the ground “YUKIKO!” Yusaku rushed forward to catch his wife before she fell to the floor, her knees wobbled unsteadily as she gripped onto her husband’s shirt.

“I-It’s not true” Yukiko’s wide tear filled eyes looked up at Yusaku pleadingly, the man’s own panicked gaze made her lips quiver “T-TELL ME IT’S NOT TRUE!!” She yelled, grasping Yusaku’s shirt with both her trembling hands. Yusaku looked at her, then at the television screen now providing nothing more than a blank screen. He looked back at his wife and said nothing. Yukiko looked at him, then screamed into his shirt, tears cascading down her face in strong rivulets as Yusaku held her close “ _OH MY GOD!! OH G-GOD! YUSAKU TOICHI IS-!!”_

“….” Yusaku’s pained expression was all he could relay at the moment, he kept his wife close to him as she wept into his shirt. How? How could this happen? Was he wrong? Did Toichi start his heists without him knowing- no that’s not possible, why would-

As Yusaku’s mind went through the whats, and hows and whys, he almost missed the opening and closing of their front door as small footsteps came walking into the room. Yusaku stared wide eyed at his son who came to the living room tentatively. Shinichi gave one look to the shattered plate on the floor, his mother crying, and his father trying to comfort her. The little boy looked shocked “T-Tou-san…what happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was a little centered around Toichi, bye Toichi...
> 
> GOOD GOLLY THIS ONE IS LONG  
> Actually it was lonGER but I decided to cut out the other parts for the next chapter instead. I'm past my chapter limit already as it is.
> 
> Aha, thought I wasn't ever gonna update soon yeah? Life got in the way, it happens to everyone but I found this slot of time which is like near twelve midnight in my part of the world. SO, have this long thing with loootsa characters.
> 
> Yep, uh, Toichi yeah, I love the guy so so much but..had to happen, this MAY be practically an AU but its more of the canon divergence stuff I guess. 
> 
> Getting to the next chapter which is a slight part of this one since I already placed the cut parts in it.
> 
> AAAND I WILL (Hopefully) SEE YOU IN THE NEXT ONE!
> 
> Adieu~


	11. Promise me

_Toichi had died._

It’s been weeks since the announced death of the well loved magician. A tragic accident, the news had said, no sign of foul play or ill-intentions against the magician, it was an _accident_ a simple mistake of the calculations, a lapse of judgment, carelessness, _an accident_. Basically, _Toichi got himself killed._ People say it was inevitable, the magician pushed his luck too far sometimes, he didn’t know his limits they say, uttering nice words and pleasantries to mask that they were blaming him for his own death.

It wasn’t the time for that.

But people don’t listen.

They don’t allow you to _grieve._

They won’t stop you from doing it though.

Shinichi had been…existing, that was the best word for it. The child would exist and see every day to its end, he would wake up, eat, go to school, learn, go home, eat, go to bed and repeat. It wasn’t just him that existed, his parents existed the same way as well. His mother would walk around the house, picking up items at random before putting it back down, somehow as though she was unaware of its existence until she held it tangible in her arms. She doesn’t even speak very much when she didn’t need to these days. Then one day the house became too small for her, so she went out more, so she could walk.

His father would rarely come out of his study, more than once Shinichi would pass by his study and hear the sharp _scritch scritch scritch_ of a pen, or the loud _ticka-tacka ticka-tacka ticka-tacka_ of his keyboard, that’s all Shinichi would ever hear for days on end, it was like his father was always awake. His mother would check up on him sometimes, gently knocking on his door with her eyes downcast, it made her look like she was always inspecting the food she brought him _‘Yusaku sweetheart?’_ She would say after she knocked _‘Please eat this okay? Don’t tire yourself out’_ Then she would lay the tray down and walk away, _tap tap tap_ her feet would go, sixteen dainty steps to the staircase, _tomp tomp tomp_ her feet would sound on the stairs, as if her steps got heavier the more she walked.

Shinichi saw this every day.

Three weeks, two days, and fifteen hours in a row and counting.

Shinichi didn’t dare to intrude on his parents, ever. They fell into this routine ever since Toichi….Shinichi couldn’t even think of the word. Death was nothing new to him, his father had shown that life was a fragile thing, blown away like a flame so easily. The death of a loved one however, is not.

Murderers seemed more monstrous now.

Nothing was alright, nothing was normal.

Grief is a complex kind of emotion, it comes in forms of different shapes and sizes but it didn’t come in the way Shinichi expected it to. In his books, grief would tear someone apart  with exponential passion,  the character would cry loud and audible for everyone to hear, they would scream to the high heavens with a shaking fist yelling ‘IT’S NOT FAIR! IT’S NOT FAIR!’ Over and over in an anguished mantra as the rain fell on their face and cascaded down their cheeks, until no one was certain of where the rain stopped and the tears began. The characters would throw caution to the wind, almost destroying themselves to be rid of the pain and feel something _else_ , each and every one of them would find the most destructive path to take and walk it with a disturbed addiction laced within their smiles.

Each of them wore their scars for all to see, indefinitely. Some of them went out of their way to make those marred places bigger, they wanted it to hurt more and more in the end until they felt nothing at all. In his books, grief came with an explosion.

In reality, grief was a quiet killer.

The Kurobas hadn’t many relatives to invite to the wake, so in their stead close friends had come to pay their respects. They were unable to perform much of the rituals when preparing for the funeral however.

They didn’t receive a body, only ashes.

Still, Chikage went on with what could be done in the wake, she followed the steps like clockwork even if she couldn’t do them all.

Shinichi had watched the paper lantern sway with a detached sort of feeling. It fluttered gently with the breeze, making small crinkling sounds as it tapped against the Kurobas’ home when it fell back to its position. Its striking color didn’t sit well with him, it was out of place. When came the time for everyone to come and pay respects, Shinichi vaguely felt his mother usher him into place, everything sped by in bleeding splashed out colors, he didn’t pay much attention to where he was.

Shinichi stared at his hands for a moment then looked up at the sound of someone’s voice, the boy watched the scene in front of him as though he was viewing it outside from where he was. Chikage had set down two of her incense but seemed to freeze with the third one, the woman’s hand that held the incense began to tremble as she held it over the urn, then she began to cry.

Chikage sobbed into her hands, small rivulets of tears seeped through her fingers as she choked on her own breath, desperately willing herself to reign in her emotions at least until she could finish with the procession of the wake, to no avail. Kaito had wordlessly come up beside his mother, he took one of her hands in his and began to rub circles on it, Shinichi couldn’t hear him but the other boy’s lips moved with words that only Chikage would hear. After a while, Kaito took her hands and led her back to the incense urn, he guided her to slowly set down her final incense then accompanied her back into her seat. Chikage pulled Kaito close to her chest, her sobs muffled by Kaito’s shirt, the other boy only hugged her back, eyes staring at nothing behind her.

When the wake had been done, people merely lingered to comfort the grieving family, though it seems that Chikage was the only one showing any signs of acceptance to their sympathy. Kaito simply stood beside his mother, holding onto her hand while the adults who came spoke to her in soft voices.

“I’m so sorry Chikage..”

“If you want to talk-“

“Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you-“

“We will be here to support you”

None of it reached Kaito’s ears. Eventually Chikage let go of her son’s hand, Kaito said nothing as he relinquished his grip, he gave his mother a silent look before walking away from her and into their back garden. He stayed there.

Shinichi kept a close eye on Kaito, part of his mind travelled back to those novels where the main character who suffered a loss would begin to scream and be angry, tossing things aside not caring if it broke, if only to let them vent. It never happened, Kaito just stood there in the garden. Before his parents could stop him, Shinichi approached the glass door that led to the garden, he slid it aside and winced at the shrill squeak that greeted him with the action, Kaito didn’t stir nevertheless.

“Hey Shinichi” Kaito greeted once Shinichi set foot onto the grass, it crunched under his shoes.

“Hey” Shinichi greeted back once he stood side by side with his friend. Shinichi pursed his lips, searching for the right words to say, they hadn’t spoken for a while, Kaito had been akin to a fleeting moment during the first week, never truly there.  Usually, Shinichi held pride when it came to his extended vocabulary, it went far beyond his age group and he understood most of the hard words his father liked to use in his novels, but at the moment he found himself at a blank slate, as if everything he knew had disappeared at that moment, he was just another kid in way over his head “Kaito, I’m-“

“Don’t apologize to me please” Shinichi clamped his mouth shut when Kaito’s voice cut into his barely made sentence. His voice wasn’t angry or forceful, rather it was the opposite, soft and tired “Why do- why do people say that?” Shinichi turned his gaze towards his friend again, watching as Kaito rubbed his arm “I-It’s not like they, you know, had..had anything to do with it” His friend seemed to be struggling with words, stopping as if second guessing himself, stuttering as if unsure.

“Kaito I was just- I..” Shinichi grimaced at himself for being tongue tied.

“It’s okay Shinichi, I understand what you’re saying” Kaito had fully turned to face him this time, the young magician’s hand held onto his other arm tight as he smiled up at his friend “I uh, appreciate the thought. I know you mean well, don’t worry about it” Shinichi winced inwardly. Kaito didn’t sound the same, it was as if every word grew stiffer when he talked, all with the same monotone timbre, as if it were all choppy and thrown together haphazardly. He didn’t sound alive.

“Kaito, you’re….not okay” Again, Shinichi winced. _Of course_ Kaito wasn’t okay, his father’s gone, _that’s why his family came to Ekoda in the first place._

Before he could utter an apology in an attempt to take back his words, Kaito laughed….hollowly “I guess I’m, ah, I guess I’m not..I’m sorry, I-I should, um, b-be happy that at least I didn’t…..” The young magician swallowed hard and sent Shinichi a shaky smile “Sorry Shini- Shin-chan, I’m not being myself ahaha, don’t worry this i-is, um- ah, just for a little while. I promise I’ll be-“

“No! No Kaito no you- I wasn’t trying to make you-! You know!!” Shinichi rushed forward and placed both his hands on the magician’s shoulders, stopping Kaito in the middle of his ramblings to stare wide eyed at Shinichi “Kaito I..I _don’t know_ what I’m supposed to say to you right now” The young Kudo stepped closer, easing his grip on Kaito’s shoulders just a bit so that he could slide his hands down to his friend’s arms “I _want_ to- to make you feel better, you…your dad is- and I just-! I…” Shinichi bit his tongue and pointedly looked away from his friend. He took in shaking breaths before he was able to look back at the young magician “…you know that I’ll always be here to listen if you ever want me to, right?”

Kaito’s stare never left him, the young magician blinked rapidly and nodded slow “I know” The young Kuroba gently eased Shinichi’s hands off him as he stepped back from his friend. Eyes duller than Shinichi was used to, as if a shadow loomed over to make them look almost glassy, despite it Kaito’s eyes stayed dry “I- Shinichi don’t be mad but I want to..be alone right now, I’m sorry, I don’t mean-“

“N-No it’s fine, it’s fine” Shinichi repeated for good measure in case Kaito decided to talk over him when he didn’t notice him cut in “I’ll get back to my parents” Shinichi nodded at his friend and turned to find his folks back inside the Kuroba residence.

“I’ll..” Shinichi stopped when he heard Kaito’s voice again but he didn’t turn back to look “I’ll come find you when I’m done with…this”

“..yeah, I’ll be around”

In the end, Kaito never actually left the garden, Shinichi didn’t expect him to especially after he began to look over the new rose buds that sprouted in their rose patch, Toichi’s new flowers. They went home without Kaito ever coming back inside.

At most nights back at the mansion, Shinichi would stay up and look out his window. The sky began to look eerily repetitive most of the time, the world felt frozen somehow, they were stuck with the same days and nights, frankly Shinichi suddenly didn’t find that very hard to believe. Sometimes he would crawl out of his bed and wriggle under it to fish out a picture frame that he saw his father throw away, he wasn’t sure if he was angry or sad at it, it seemed like a mixture of both. Besides, his father only threw it across the hall from his study, it never ended up in a trash bin.

Nevertheless, he kept it hidden from his father that he saved it. Shinichi climbed back on his bed with the picture frame in hand, the glass was cracked in a corner but the picture held no damage.

It was a silly little photo they took during Christmas last year, Toichi-ojisan had given the frame and the picture to his mother as a gift after it was taken. In it were the Kudo and Kuroba family, Toichi and Yusaku stood back to back, fingers raised as guns as they smirked at the camera, Yukiko and Chikage posed beside their husbands, blowing kisses at the camera, and finally Shinichi and Kaito, the two boys were beside each other, underneath their respective dads. Kaito had slung an arm around him while Shinichi stuck two of his fingers up behind the young Kuroba in retaliation, capturing his smile of amusement as he did so all the while looking at Kaito and not the camera.

They wore really gross sweaters.

Shinichi couldn’t help but smile at his thought, as silly as it was, he found some sort of comfort in the mundane notion of it.

He stared at all the smiling faces in the frame, the longer he did the more he felt that he was back in that moment captured. Shinichi would hear the faint laughter of the people around him, the quiet crackling of the fire place and the soft whistles of the cold air outside their windows. _‘Everyone get ready!!’_ Toichi had said, nearly knocking his father away when he made a dash towards his position _‘Oi! Watch it you lunatic!’_ Yusaku cried as he steadied his balance beside Toichi. The voices didn’t always sound right sometimes, they echoed and shifted, Shinichi wasn’t very sure with how it sounded anymore.

Shinichi ran a finger down the crack of the frame, wondering whether or not he should search the house for a new one, part of him hesitated at the thought since the frame was part of Toichi’s present. Shinichi sighed and placed the frame on his bedside stand carefully.

Quiet creaking drew his attention. Shinichi sat up straight on his bed, staring at his door in alarm when it began to push into his room slowly. The young Kudo did a quick run through his past experiences shouting for his parents, surely they would still-

“Shinichi” The quick whisper of his name brought him back to the door where a shadow of someone stood just at its small entrance. Shinichi squinted his eyes at them and gasped at what he saw when the figure began to walk into his room.

“Kai-!!” Kaito was quick to dart forwards and cover his mouth with a hand. The young magician made shushing noises at him and only let him go when Shinichi nodded “How did you get in here?! _How did you get to Beika?!?_ ” The young Kudo hissed at his friend while Kaito hopped off the bed. There was a moment where in the magician simply stared at him before he tore his gaze away and looked at the floor.

“Can you….can you come with me please?” Kaito mumbled, though with how quiet the home was Shinichi could hear it clear as day. The other boy didn’t miss how he didn’t even answer his questions.

“What? Wh- you mean right now?! W-when it’s dark outside??” Shinichi stared at him incredulously, shaking his head in disbelief when Kaito simply nodded his confirmation “Kaito it’s- We _can’t_ ”

“ _Please_ Shinichi” Kaito looked back up at him, pleading “I…I can’t be at home right now, I don’t- I don’t feel _okay_. I just want to be somewhere else and I just….” The young magician sighed out a long breath as he pressed the heel of his palms to his eyes “I don’t want to be alone right now” He admitted.

Shinichi caught himself before he told Kaito that his mom could’ve been with him at this time, but then he thought back to before, when all the adults seemed content with keeping them away from whatever secrets they were hiding. He could still remember how it felt to know that his parents were lying to him, how it felt when he didn’t know if he could even come to his parents for anything, even if all he was asking for was an explanation “…okay” Shinichi slowly got out of bed, joining Kaito on the floor. His friend smiled gratefully at him and took his hand, leading them both out of the Kudo residence.

Once the gate was carefully shut behind them, Shinichi tugged at Kaito’s hand, gaining his friend’s attention “Kaito, you know that I’m okay with going somewhere with you but..it’s not far is it?”

Kaito shook his head but said nothing else, continuing to lead Shinichi away from his home. The young Kudo silently wondered what took over him to even agree to this but one glace at Kaito was all the answers he could get.

It was a clear night sky out in Beika. The moon shone bright and full, illuminating the streets with an almost white-blue glow. There were no clouds, in fact it hadn’t rained during the weeks that passed them by, every day the sun would never fail to shine as bright as it always had. The distant sounds of their cities, Beika and Ekoda, would come to greet them with their busy streets and active citizens, always a constant buzz in the air no matter what happened. Every day was always alive, and everyone could feel it. They didn’t want to, at least not now.

 _Kaito_ didn’t want to.

Shinichi wanted him to.

Shinichi’s neighborhood was far behind them at this point, from where he was he could hear Beika city’s busy nightlife coming closer with each step they took, he could see the lights of the city too. Instead of heading towards it however, Kaito suddenly pulled them both into a detour, completely missing the main road that led into the city and into a broken off crumbling path that not a lot of residents used. Shinichi held in a protest when he felt Kaito tighten his grip on his hand, he could only see the back of Kaito’s head but he was sure his friend was trying to keep in his own emotions, he never would have guessed it if Kaito’s gait hadn’t swayed often, if he didn’t tremble slightly when they stopped to catch a break. All Shinichi could do at this point was to keep hold of Kaito’s hand, if only to steady him.

They walked longer than Shinichi had anticipated, through the thick underbrush of a forest that was steadily becoming larger around them.  He was concerned, no doubt, but Kaito just kept pushing forward, never saying a word. Right before Shinichi almost uttered a silent complaint about how tired he was becoming, Kaito suddenly stopped in front of him, Shinichi nearly ran into his friend “Kaito?” He frowned, walking forward a bit more so that they stood side by side.

“Ekoda would be ahead from here” Came Kaito’s voice, soft and out of nowhere. Despite Shinichi turning a wide eyed look at him, Kaito’s eyes remained downcast, his frame rigid and unmoving “Hey…” Kaito suddenly looked up again, turning tired eyes at Shinichi with a sad smile “Do you realize where we are Shinichi?”

Shinichi stared back at him, confused. The detective took a look around the forest, he hadn’t been this far out into it honestly, sometimes his father would poke around this little out of the way forest out of curiosity, but they never reached as far into it as this. With a shake of his head, Shinichi decided that he’ll let Kaito speak more this time, he needs it.

Kaito chuckled at him but it was cut off and short “Eh? Not gonna deduce anything tonight tantei-kun?” His smile reached his eyes, but it only served to make him seem more rundown, the bags under them didn’t help. Shinichi had to wonder if Kaito actually got any sleep the past few weeks “Right now, we’re technically in the middle of Beika and Ekoda” Kaito continued quietly, looking to the side to reach a hand out to the tree beside him “We’re nowhere right now, this place doesn’t have a name Shinichi”

“Why are we here?” Shinichi asked, watching Kaito with a steady gaze.

Kaito’s hand stilled on the bark, the young magician stood frozen on his spot. The only indication Shinichi had to Kaito’s next movement was the tightening hold on his own hand before Kaito turned to look at him again “I can’t be anywhere else right now” Something shone in the magician’s eyes, it was too late when Shinichi realized that Kaito was beginning to cry “I d-don’t think I c-can be” The young Kuroba gasped for air when a painful wave of emotions crashed into his chest, Kaito let go of Shinichi’s hand and backed himself up against the tree behind him. The little boy brought one of his hands up to his eyes while the other clutched at his chest, broken terrified sobs escaped his mouth as his legs struggled to keep him standing.

Shinichi was quick to move in front of his friend to support him before he could fall and hurt himself even more. Kaito immediately latched onto his friend, holding him tight as he cried. Shinichi felt his frown deepen when Kaito’s trembling returned tenfold, his hands tightened their hold around the young magician, he didn’t know what else he could possibly do but be there.

At that moment, Kaito wasn’t a magician, he wasn’t an energetic kid who couldn’t sit still, he wasn’t a jokester, he wasn’t himself. In that out of the way forest, between two cities that never slept, Kaito was a scared child, hurt and grieving over the loss of someone who loved him and he loved dearly, a father who he thought the world of, never to be seen for as long as he breathed.

Toichi is dead.

Kaito wanted him to come back home.

For a little while, the two kids simply stood there in each other’s arms. Shinichi let Kaito cry and Kaito held onto the person he trusted the most. When Shinichi felt that his friend was beginning to calm down, he held him at arms length while the other rubbed at his eyes, sniffling “I j-just..” Kaito hiccupped “Why di-id it h-have to be m-my da-ad?” Kaito let out a wet sob and covered both his eyes, afraid that he’ll start crying again “H-He was s-s’posta be here f-for a long t-time…”

Shinichi watched sadly as Kaito struggled to gain back his composure, the young Kudo pulled him back for a gentler hug, trying his best to comfort his friend “…I miss him too” Shinichi offered, hearing his friend’s stuttering breaths.

“Dad once tol-ld me,” Kaito began after heaving in enough breaths to attempt to speak properly “he said that he’d take the world as his- his stage, that they would a-all know his name one day” The young magician let out a bitter laugh, he eased off Shinichi and wiped at his eyes again when the world became blurry “’Don’t think that this will happen through chance Kaito, hard work is where our rewards await us’, that’s what he told me and for a while I thought….” The child let out another sigh and hugged himself, suddenly finding that the night was too cold “Tou-san worked _so hard_ , he wasn’t supposed to go. He got sick so many times but he kept going, he was supposed to become a great magician…” Kaito seemed to curl into himself even more with each word, Shinichi reached a hand out to anchor him, to remind him he wasn’t just talking to himself, it seemed to work as the young magician began to relax a little “I’m sorry Shinichi…” The other boy startled when he was suddenly addressed, Kaito didn’t look at him “I dragged you all the way out here and all I’ve done is cry and- and be so dumb about this and I..I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have dragged you out here, I just thought-“

“Kaito” Shinichi’s voice was firm enough to make said magician look up in surprise “Kaito listen to me, I _chose_ to go with you, I’m here because I want to be” The smile that was sent his way was soft and fond, something Kaito honestly hadn’t expected after how he acted in front of his friend “This _isn’t_ dumb, you’re hurt and you lost someone important and I’m not about to leave you alone when you can’t be strong. Kaito _I care about you_ , you’re my _friend_ and Toichi-ojisan meant something to my family too, I’m sad that he’s gone but I can’t imagine how you’re feeling right now” Shinichi’s smile turned sad as he regarded his friend, trying to show that he wasn’t going anywhere “If you honestly came to me to ask me to just be beside you _it’s more than okay_ , I’ll help you get better no matter how long it takes. I will always be here Kaito, that won’t ever change”

The young Kuroba stared wide eyed at his friend. Kaito slowly but surely returned the smile, laughing just a little as he wiped away another tear streak from his face “Is that a promise?” He asked jokingly.

Shinichi held up a pinky finger, surprising even the magician “I promise” Kaito didn’t need to be told twice, he intertwined his own finger with his friend.

Kaito smiled up at him, though the storm of emotions still lingered he could at least allow himself to be grateful for a friend like Shinichi. He didn’t think he would be quite alright for a while, but at least someone would still be there to catch him if he fell “What now?” He asked.

Shinichi shrugged, walking past him and sitting down under the tree “If you want to talk..” The young Kudo patted at the ground next to him, waiting for Kaito’s next move. The young magician chuckled and moved to sit next to his friend, leaning his head on the other boy’s shoulder as he took in a deep breath, counted silently, and began to tell Shinichi all about when Toichi first introduced him to magic.

That was how the night went by for the two of them, with Kaito telling Shinichi stories about his father. Whether they were about his indomitable skills as a magician, his rare blunders, his quiet silliness, or his ever present coddling of his beloved doves, Shinichi listened to them all. Some stories were familiar to him, as he had been present during the times it had happened, though the background of the stories were new to him, especially the one about their Christmas morning together.

“You mean, Toichi-ojisan didn’t _plan_ to make the cake explode with confetti??”

“Not even close Shin-chan!” Kaito laughed, though it wasn’t close to his normal one, it was more subdued and lacked the energy he usually radiated but Shinichi didn’t really care, they were going to take this step by step.

“But how come he had a _second_ cake? How can’t that be planned??”

“Shinichi he _panicked”_ Kaito snickered, leaning his head back to look up at the sky “He told me so, he said that when he was making the first cake it was supposed to be a double layer but then he forgot to clean out his suit and a confetti bomb dropped into one of the cake pans. Dad tried to get them out but mom went in the kitchen and told him to stop playing around, she put both cake pans into the oven before dad could stop her, and he was too embarrassed to admit his mistake since she was already scolding him” The young magician laughed again and shook his head before continuing “Sooo, tou-san did the best he could with his problem, he decided to put on a show and I guess it worked since your family was happy with it”

“Oh definitely, cake to the face was my favorite” Shinichi couldn’t stop the sarcastic comment, he bit his tongue and paled at what he had said but Kaito laughed at it.

“Aaah, this is why I like you” He felt Kaito stiffen beside him suddenly, right after he said those words. Shinichi looked at him in concern, he opened his mouth to ask what was wrong but was cut off when Kaito landed a- rather awkward- dig on his shoulder, it was slow as well to top it off, unlike the fast digs Ran usually gave him “ _Buddy_ ”

Kaito grinned uneasily at him but Shinichi didn’t want to press further, not right now, so he let it slide and returned the dig “Right, uh, back at you”

“So uh yeah” Kaito was quick to cut in, he coughed into his sleeve and tapped the tips of his shoes together, trying to have something else to do to at least wave away the sudden unease that settled between them “Yeah, dad made the best of a problem and, well, it’s one of the reasons why I thought he was the coolest” The young magician huffed, fiddling with his hands. Shinichi half expected him to do a trick but nothing ever came from any of Kaito’s movements “Nothing could bring him down…at least I thought nothing could”

Kaito stared down at his empty hands, something about the lack of an item in them made him feel so vulnerable. When he had ventured out he came with nothing but the clothes he wore, for the first time in such a long while he had nothing up his sleeve, he didn’t have a surprise in store, for the first time he was just like everyone else. For the first time he was just Kaito, just another kid. Thinking back to it, Kaito spared Shinichi a nervous glance when he noticed how the other boy watched his hands. He wondered if Shinichi was disappointed somehow- what no he isn’t! – since Kaito came as just…himself. He wasn’t exciting or even close to good company right now but he wasn’t sure how he was going to be. Shinichi liked the Kaito who challenged him- No no no!!- the really active Kaito that pulled him along for fun adventures- _Shinichi wouldn’t think that! –_ the magician to be who became his closest rival.

Then a sudden pressure on his hands made Kaito look up, he hadn’t realized how tightly he held his hands together. Shinichi relaxed his grip on his hands when he saw how his friend seemed to snap out of whatever dark pit he fell into “Kaito we’re under a tree, we’re talking, it’s just me and you here. Do you wanna know the time? It’s one in the morning”

Kaito held on to every word, every _fact_ that Shinichi was giving him. Reality weighed him down and slowly the magician found himself on solid ground again. He followed the hand on his own up until he found two brilliant sapphires watching him closely, moving minutely as to search his face for something. Kaito blinked slowly _‘Why did I look for you?’_ He meant to say it out loud but it remained a quiet thought at the back of his mind _‘I’ll be around’_ A memory of Shinichi from yesterday resurfaced in his mind, his voice clear and crisp as if Kaito was still standing in his garden, listening to Shinichi leave and give him the privacy he wanted _‘You know I’ll always be here to listen if you ever want me to, right?’_

Those two sentences etched deep into his subconscious. Kaito remembered waking up during the night, refusing to look at the photo of his father, vibrant and alive when he wasn’t, he remembered feeling so bitter and torn up, enough to make everything in his chest hurt, as if someone had taken a hammer and drove it into him then left it there. It was difficult to move. Then he remembered Shinichi, Shinichi who told him he would be there, Shinichi who told him that he would listen, Shinichi who was his friend, who wanted him to feel better, Shinichi, Shinichi, Shinichi…

It was that thought he held onto when he left Ekoda.

“Remember when I told you I wanted to be a great magician?” Kaito watched Shinichi nod, somewhat in confusion “You know, I was actually okay with being second best, if it was my dad” The young magician laughed quietly, taking Shinichi’s hand still on top of his and holding on to it as memories of his father came back, smiling, caring, patient, and _there_ “I promised him that I would do my best to surpass him one day. I always thought that when I grew up and did it my dad would be there to say ‘I’m so proud of you Kaito!’ but then…you know” Kaito stared down at their hands.

“But he was wasn’t he?” Shinichi spoke after his friend had quieted down, Kaito shrugged “No, Kaito really he was, I could see it” The young detective thought back to all the times he had watched Toichi mentor Kaito through complicated looking tricks, sometimes his friend would stumble but most times he was able to perform it well. Toichi always had a wide smile after every session, failure or success, he always watched his son with a look of wonder and pride.

 _“Don’t tell Kaito, Shinichi” Toichi brought a finger to his lips and winked at him “But I think he’s advancing beyond the age_ I _learned magic” The older magician grinned up at his son a distance away from where they were standing, a cloud of smoke enveloping the younger as Nami tried her best to learn his cues. Toichi held a hand out to the young Kudo, which Shinichi took shyly “I think I have you to thank for that hm? Jr. Kudo critic-san” He laughed._

“He was definitely proud of you already”

Kaito smiled at that, tapping a beat on top of Shinichi’s hand as he thought it over “You really think so?” The young magician sighed and nodded along to the thought “I..really hope he was” Silence trailed after, but it was the sort that reminded the two of them of where they were, it wasn’t heavy or uneasy to feel, it was the silence that came to quiet the noise, it was what came when you look around you and realize that everything was still and waiting just the same as when you forgot about it. It was calm “Shinichi?” Kaito shifted his body so that he could fully face his friend, still keeping a tight clasp on the hand the young Kudo had offered him, Shinichi simply waited for his next words “Do you think maybe one day I’ll..I’ll make _you_ proud of me?”

Shinichi gaped at the sudden question “What?” Was all he managed through his surprise.

Kaito paused at his tone, looking up from their hands to stare at Shinichi. A familiar cheeky grin wormed its way into his expression upon seeing how he caught his friend off guard “You heard me” Kaito snickered, reaching out with his other hand to hold on to Shinichi’s free one, forcing the other boy to fully face him as well as Kaito brought their hands up to their chests “You’ve been making a lot of promises Shin-chan, I think I gotta return the favor” Clearing his throat, the young magician focused his gaze on the two bright sapphires he swore he would never forget.

Mustering all his strength, Kaito gathered enough of his confidence to flash Shinichi the award winning Kuroba smile, bright, full, and relaying pleasant intentions to astound “I promise you, Kudo Shinichi, that I, Kuroba Kaito, will one day make you proud of me. It’ll be genuine, you won’t just say you’re proud just because we’re friends or because you want me to feel better, you’ll say it because I’ll become the greatest magician this world will ever know, and I will work _hard_ gain that because I know that I gotta earn your praise” Kaito tightened his hold on Shinichi’s hands, nodding his head once “I _know_ it’ll be worth it”

Shinichi sat speechless. The forest was dim and barely lit, most of the shadows had covered anything visible including his friend, but through the faint glimmers of moonlight that broke through the canopies of trees, Shinichi could see the fire that blazed through Kaito’s eyes, his spirit that radiated energy and determination, making his eyes shine brighter when he spoke of something he cared about, as if a star had been trapped inside each one and only took a snap of the magician’s fingers to come alive, a truly special feat of his passion, and somehow, all of that energy was directed towards him.

Realizing what Kaito had promised, and where they were, in a forest possibly miles away from either of their homes with the two of them kneeling on the dirt ground during the early morning, Shinichi could only bite his lower lip to stop a guffaw from leaving him. It didn’t work. Shinichi laughed, loud and slightly hysterical as he fell forward to lean his head against Kaito’s chest, trying and failing to stop his laughter as he shook with each one. Kaito sat there confused beyond belief and slightly offended that Shinichi would _laugh_ after what he just told him “That’s rude Shin-chan” He frowned.

“Ahaha! Oooh my god!!” Shinichi heaved in a breath but didn’t stop the occasional giggles that left him “ _Corny!_ Oh that was so corny!! A-And we’re on _dirt!_ We didn’t sleeeep!!”

Kaito huffed, nudging his friend when he didn’t seem too keen on stopping any time soon “Are you done you heartless tantei-kun?”

“Shhhh!!” Shinichi lifted his head up, grinning at him. Kaito blinked at the distance, turning red at their proximity he inched his head away a little “You’ll- you’ll ruin your cool guy moment _idiot magician_ ” Shinichi huffed out one last laugh before he shook his head and leaned back, missing the sigh from his friend as he did so “I- I’m so sorry Kaito I just-“ Shinichi shrugged his shoulders “This is all so _weird_ , I haven’t heard from you for weeks until yesterday and suddenly we’re here and you’re just making speeches at me” Shinichi grinned at him “But it was pretty good, I’ll give you that. I’m holding you to it though”

Kaito’s previously annoyed and slightly flustered self seemed to melt away at those words. The young Kuroba returned the grin directed at him with a new spark igniting within him “Don’t you worry Shin-chan, I’ll be sure to make it worth your while” Letting go of Shinichi’s hands, Kaito surged forward to envelop his friend in a warm embrace “Thanks for being my friend Shinichi” He whispered.

“That’s not something to thank me for” Shinichi quietly muttered before returning the gesture _‘I should be thanking you for that’._ Shinichi tilted his head up to see the sky begin to lose its star filled night sky in exchange for softly glimmering daylight, his eyes focused on the moon that refused to disappear even when its time in the sky was over. He never paid it any mind before and yet, suddenly it was all he could see, a stubborn moon always right there in the sky refusing to leave and let the sun have its day, always barely visible and able to escape detection, but enough to let you know it’s there, always.

“Do you want to go home?” Kaito hadn’t let him go but he felt his grip slacken. Shinichi buried his face into the magician’s shoulder, ignoring the moon.

“Maybe later”

 

* * *

  


“Fuck” Yusaku breathed heavily, pen shaking in his grip as he stared down the file in his hands. The novelist rubbed at his eyes roughly as the words in print spun and blurred and melted before him. He leaned back on his chair, letting his arms fall to his sides limply as his head lolled back. Exhaustion pressed down on him slowly, making him feel _everything_ that was going wrong in his body so excruciatingly vivid. He felt a joint pop when he moved, only making him groan “Fuck, stay awake Yusaku, we’re not done” The novelist shook his head vigorously when his eyelids seemed to drop without his prompting, coffee was out of the question. Sitting up straight, the man looked back at his files “There’s…there’s got to be something in here..” He mumbled absently, analyzing different old and recent tailing, stalking, and abduction cases.

The novelist frowned at all of them and lifted one up to his eye level, the file shook violently in his grip. With a sigh, Yusaku set down the case and leaned against his chair. The novelist ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back and away from his eyes as he stared at the ceiling, his gaze slipped down to the spot on his desk where a card lay facing down. Yusaku stared at the object for a while before he let his head fall to his hands, he hunched over his desk “Toichi, what the hell did you get yourself into?” The memory of his friend sent a pang of sorrow through the novelist, suddenly he was gone and everything was quiet, like the whole world decided to just…stop.

Yusaku sighed once again “No no stop. Being sad won’t help Toichi, get it together Yusaku, you owe him this much…”

Before he could resume however, a knock on his door broke through his study followed by a faint voice on the other side “Yusaku? Yusaku sweetheart?” The novelist frowned upon hearing his wife’s voice, he turned away from the door “…Dear, please open the door, someone came to visit you today”

“Tell them I’m busy” Yusaku answered once he realized that Yukiko wasn’t going to give up so soon.

“No, no Yusaku you need to come out. It’s Agasa, he’s waiting for you outside, it seems important”

Yusaku stilled at that, the novelist weighed out what to do before glancing at his clock, huh, it was already morning? No sleep again. He shot the files on his desk one last look, something in his stomach curled at the sight of them, he grimaced and shook his head, deciding that maybe seeing an old friend might do him some good “I’ll see him” He called out as he stood up from his desk, wincing while he stretched and unwound his stiff muscles before he made his way out the door.

He was surprised when he didn’t see his wife outside but he figured she must have gone elsewhere for the moment. When he reached their front door, the novelist didn’t smile to welcome his guest, he didn’t really feel up to it at the moment “Good morning” He said instead, trying his best not to yawn in front of his friend.

Hiroshi Agasa nearly jumped when the door suddenly swung open revealing what was no doubt a _very_ tired Yusaku. The inventor laughed shakily when his friend merely gave him a flat stare through the evident exhaustion in his eyes “Oh! Uh, Yusaku! Good morning!” He tried with a smile, hoping to elicit some sort of reaction from his friend other than a deep frown and nearly dead eyes. When Yusaku simply stared at him Hiroshi inwardly grimaced but tried to keep his smile, was this a bad time? “Were you, uh, doing something?”

“Work” Hiroshi winced at the flat tone, watching as Yusaku blinked rapidly and desperately tried to stay awake. If he didn’t know any better, maybe the novelist had a good idea of blowing off his editors from time to time, too much work wasn’t good for him “So what brings you by? I’m sorry for being curt but I really am a little busy old friend” Yusaku leaned heavily against his doorframe, crossing his arms and waiting for whatever it was Hiroshi had to tell him.

“Eh well….” Hiroshi revealed what he hid behind his back, a rather thick pile of papers- _‘Letters?’_ Yusaku thought with a frown –that he fingered nervously “I was hoping to show you these” Hiroshi fanned out the papers in his hands, each with their own messages “You see, these odd little letters have been sent to my aunt every year for ten years now, she was quite worried about them, I’m concerned as well but more for her safety…I understand if you won’t look at them right away but-“

“What are these??” Yusaku suddenly stood up straight and peered curiously at the letters, he traced a finger on their borders, all holding symbols of different kinds.

“Oh those” Hiroshi frowned, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand “I don’t know, but all the letters have them. Does it mean something? Ah-?”

Yusaku snatched up the papers, something behind his eyes sparked with intrigue as he looked them over, he flipped through all the letters, muttering to himself before grinning widely “Hey Hiroshi, why don’t you let yourself in? I’ll be right back!” With that the novelist suddenly took off with a dash, leaving the inventor gaping in confusion at his doorstep.

“Tsk tsk, no manners at all that man” Yukiko stepped in after hearing the ruckus at their front door. The woman smiled at their guest and gestured him to come inside “Why don’t you sit down Professor? I’m sure that big oaf won’t take too long” There was a soft tone of relief in Yukiko’s voice as she looked up to where her husband disappeared to, she wouldn’t let her surprise slip at seeing Yusaku actually _smile_ after a long time “I’m currently making breakfast, do you want anything Agasa-san?”

Yukiko asked once Hiroshi found a seat in their living room, the inventor waved his hands “Oh no no! I’m alright Yukiko-san, I’ll just wait for Yusaku, thank you for the offer”

Yukiko huffed out a laugh and turned to leave “Alright then, I suppose I’ll just wait for my Shin-chan to wake up” The woman disappeared back into the kitchen while Hiroshi simply made himself comfortable on the couch.

It wasn’t but a few minutes later that the Kudo mansion’s front door swung open once again. Hiroshi sat up when someone entered only to stare wide eyed in confusion when the youngest of the Kudos came in hand in hand with….himself?? “Wh-“ Hiroshi started, gaping at the two identical boys sleepily dragging each other across the house. Shinichi- was it Shinichi??- turned his eyes at him and blinked blearily. The inventor waved, unsure, at the boy only to have the child yawn and continue to drag his counterpart up the stairs. Hiroshi blinked rapidly then shook his head when he heard a door from upstairs close shut “Ugh, I may not be awake yet” The inventor muttered, a hand resting on the side of his head while he stared at the floor with confusion.

“Hiroshi!!” Yusaku’s call from upstairs made the professor look up again. Yusaku’s loud muffled voice told him to come upstairs which the inventor happily obliged to. Once he stood in front of the man’s study, Yusaku threw open the door with a wide smile, holding the letters in his hand and a new addition to it, that being a small white envelope “Here!” Yusaku handed him the papers and the envelope all together, still grinning. Hiroshi let a small smile break into his expression of bewilderment, at least Yusaku’s mood was better than his previous one “Give this envelope to your aunt” He gestured at the item which the professor took gratefully. Yusaku smiled “This was fun, professor you’re a “sun”. I really think I needed this break, thanks to you I’m feeling a little better!”

“Eh ah, sun?” Hiroshi raised an eyebrow at his friend to which Yusaku waved off.

“Ah ah! Don’t mind that, just worry about giving your aunt the envelope okay?” Yusaku made shooing motions with his hands “As much as I appreciated this I really should go back to work. Really thank you for this, I needed something easy for once” The novelist chuckled “I’ll see you around professor Sun!” Yusaku gave him a quick salute before closing his study door once again.

“Um…no problem?” Hiroshi frowned at the door, not really sure about what just transpired. The inventor looked down at the envelop in his hands then shrugged, making his way back downstairs. Well, if Yusaku doesn’t seem too worried, then perhaps he shouldn’t be either, the envelope seems to be the answer to all these weird nonsense letters, perhaps his aunt will finally be at peace once she reads whatever was inside it.

Inside the study, Yusaku leaned against his door, frowning at the files that were laid out before him. Although the professor’s little problem served as a happy distraction, the fact of the matter was that he was still stuck, stressed, and tired beyond belief. The novelist hesitated to take another step towards the files, he had read them more times than he could count, _nothing_ was coming from it. He didn’t have _all_ the facts. He tapped his fingers against the wood door behind him, a deep grimace on his features as he worried his lower lip. With resignation about him, Yusaku opened his door, stepped outside, went downstairs, and dialed a number on the phone.

 _Brrriiii…..briiiiii…briiii-_ “Hello? Kuroba residence”

“Chikage” Yusaku started, swallowing when he felt his throat constrict “Could I bother you for a meeting? I…have something I want to ask you and- and tell you”

Silence. Yusaku tapped his foot, twisting the phone cord in his hand while he waited “…..okay” Chikage’s voice sounded tired, a sudden guilt filled the novelist “I’ll call you again then we’ll talk somewhere” The dial tone blared into the phone before Yusaku could get another word in. Breathing in the words he failed to say, Yusaku looked down at the phone with a frown. Putting it back the novelist stood there, contemplative, before turning around to return to his study.

_BRIIIII…BRIIII!!_

Yusaku jumped in his skin, whipping his head around to stare disbelievingly at the phone. The novelist picked it up once more “Hello? Chi-“

“KAITO IS MISSING!!” Chikage’s panicked tone yelled “I- YUSAKU MY SON!! I-I went to check up on him!! And- and he wasn’t-!!!!” Pulling the phone away from his ear, Yusaku narrowed his eyes on the trail of muddy footprints that led from outside the front door up until the stairs. The novelist felt his headache worsen. He glanced back at the phone, hearing Chikage sob and panic steadily increase “You don’t think he ran away do you?!” He heard once he placed the phone to his ear again, Chikage let out a wet sob “Oh I knew this might happen!! I-I should have been more _careful_ and-!”

“I know where he is Chikage”

“E-Eh?”

“I’ll bring him back to you, calm down alright? I’ll be seeing you soon” Yusaku set the phone down for a second time. He sighed.

“So, Chikage gets to be in on it” The novelist stiffened but he didn’t turn to address the new voice from behind him. Yukiko glared at her husband’s back, the woman walked to his side so that he could _see_ her disappointment “Kudo Yusaku, where am I in your life anymore huh?” Yukiko’s voice trembled, becoming even more saddened when Yusaku didn’t even bother to look at her, actively avoiding her gaze “You lock yourself away in your room,” Yukiko continued, crossing her arms and moving into her husband’s personal space “never speak to me or our son,” she leaned toward his face only to have the novelist move away from her, turning his back. She let out a breath, disbelieving “ _never_ come back to our room,” She darted to where he was facing, he turned away, she gritted her teeth “and treat _me_ like I don’t **_exist_** _!”_ She grabbed his arm and spun him around forcefully, finding a satisfaction in the scared and guilty look in her husband’s face when he finally looked into her eyes “Where am I Yusaku? _Where am I in your life? **Do I even**_ **matter _to you anymore?!_** ” She hiccupped, pressing a palm to her right eye when she felt herself tear up “ _Why_ are you pushing us away? Pushing _me_ away??”

Yusaku, slack-jawed and stiff, felt the _worst_ he had even felt in his entire life. The novelist winced, he hung his head in shame as Yukiko sobbed in front of him _‘What am I doing?’_ Yusaku thought grimly _‘This shouldn’t have happened…’_ Tentatively, the novelist reached out to his wife, as gently as he could he pulled the small woman towards his chest, he buried his face in her hair as she sobbed against his shirt, her hands pressed against her own chest, not even bothering to return the embrace _‘I don’t think I can be you Toichi’_ Yusaku looked down at his wife, all the days and nights he spent alone in his study suddenly came crashing down on top of him. All of the days and nights he spent _neglecting_ his family _‘That was your mistake, I think’_ The novelist ran his fingers through his wife’s hair, feeling her heart beat against him for the first time in a long while _‘You kept too many secrets’._

“…Yukiko?”

“…..”

“We need to talk”

 

* * *

 

  
  
Shinichi looked down at his friend beside him, watching as Kaito breathed in and out steadily. This may be the first time Kaito actually feel asleep properly, judging by how fast he fell once his head hit a pillow. Sometimes the magician’s face would scrunch up, he would grit his teeth and whine, it was then when Shinichi would step in and try to soothe him, at least until Kaito stopped thrashing, when his expression would soften and his body would finally relax.

He never let go of Kaito’s hand, not once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS ONE OF THEM SHORTER ONES!!!!!
> 
> It was actually a little hard writing this one because grief is well...its not really new but there's no easy way to describe it. I don't want to give away too much but I've gone through that loss before, its not gonna go away easy and it'll always be there but you learn how to get better, especially with people who care about you, I hope I portrayed that well enough here. 
> 
> Anywhooo! I'm gonna take a time out for a bit because I actually want to catch up with the rest of DC! The last time I put it down there weren't a lot of updates but now I'm like....200 chapters behind..
> 
> ...
> 
> MORE FOR ME YAY! 
> 
> Till next time~
> 
> Adieu~


	12. Subtlety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MAJOR TIMESKIP AHEAD

_“This can’t be…”_

_Silence. Two steps forward “I’m sorry….we-“_

_“No!..no I, please don’t come near me I can’t..”_

_“…”_

_A shuddering breath. One hand moved to cover a pair of eyes “This is a lot to- to take in…I just didn’t think it was..like_ this”

_“….he was looking out for you, the both of us did”_

_“It didn’t feel like it” Another voice, angry “How could you hide this from us?!”_

_“We didn’t know!!” A voice raised, laced with guilt, uncertainty, sadness “We didn’t realize how dangerous it was, it was only recently that I figured out just_ how much _” A silence followed, suffocating “…I’m sorry….I should have…”_

_‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I should have’ The two would never be enough, but he didn’t know how to say what he needed to. Not anymore, not for this._

_Yusaku held onto his trembling hands, a heavy weight upon his shoulders, it made him hunch a little, it forced him to cast his eyes to the ground. Emotions the novelist turned detective had been avoiding suddenly pierced through his body leaving gaping, ugly holes that made him gasp for air he could no longer breathe. The man’s eyes shadowed over as the anguish of a loss finally seized his heart, he made a mistake, he was careless._

_He lost his friend because of it._

_In front of him, two women who allowed themselves to grieve watched him struggle under the pressure of what he ran from, his ability to feel. Yusaku had favored mind over matter for the longest time, and now that the former could no longer be an escape, he was forced to face the bitterness of what he should have let pass._

_Chikage and Yukiko gave each other looks, the women spared the man in front of them their attention once more but it was Yukiko who spoke first “Yusaku” The woman placed her hand upon his shoulder but he refused to look at her still. Shame was heavy and potent in his eyes “This is by far the most_ reckless _and **selfish**_ _course of action you have ever decided to take” There was no room for mercy in her voice, even though she knew he had tried to do what he thought was best it was inexcusable “You are not God Yusaku, no matter how skilled you believed yourself to be there are just some mysteries you shouldn’t take **alone** ”_

_Yusaku raised his head to meet her gaze, his eyes were hollow and red but he said nothing to respond to her. Chikage took this time to step in “Yusaku, I’m angry with you” He flinched when she spoke but she raised a hand to show that she will not do anything rash “And I’m angry with my Toichi for dragging you into this mess… and without giving you a chance to escape” Chikage held onto herself, she worried her lower lip as she gazed at the novelist. One of the very last people Toichi had entrusted “I’m angry with you Yusaku, but I don’t blame you for what happened to my Toichi” Her voice, once on edge and rough, turned soft. Her eyes looked out into the garden behind her home._

_For a moment she could see Toichi happily singing a song as he jaunted about the flora ridden landscape, carrying a basket full of his special colored roses. Her husband looked up in surprise at her when he realized she was there, he smiled and waved, nearly dropping the basket that he scrambled to save before laughing off his near stumble. Then he was gone. The garden had never looked so bare._

_Chikage sighed, placing her head in her hand as he tried to collect her thoughts once more “I know that maybe you did what you thought was right…maybe we couldn’t have made a difference…..”_

_“Chikage…” Yukiko wanted to reach out to her, but she knew the other woman didn’t really want that at the moment._

_“But Yusaku..” Chikage gave him a serious look, one which the novelist couldn’t ignore despite his guilt “After all of this, after what happened to my Toichi” Her eyes watered but she made no move to wipe away her tears “You_ still _want to catch the man who could have done this??”_

 _Yusaku’s expression darkened at the mention of the problem. The novelist growled low, clenching his hands into fists “The_ **men** _Chikage, there’s more than one” He remembered Toichi, how scared, tired, paranoid, and run down the man had become. Toichi who wanted nothing more than to keep his family safe and live on peacefully with them for years to come. Toichi who had his life taken away unfairly “I’m not going to stand aside and watch as they get away with it, Toichi deserves more than just **this** ”_

_Chikage felt something in her heart soften at the novelist’s conviction, knowing that someone else other than herself cared so much about what happened to her husband. Still, it didn’t erase the fact that Yusaku was now left with the damage and the rest of the battle he and Toichi had tried to fight together “Yusaku, tell us the truth” She moved forward, putting her hand on top of the novelist’s other shoulder as Yukiko gave her the same troubled look “Are you in any danger?”_

_The shoulder under her hand stiffened. Yukiko watched her husband closely, never once shielding the worry in her eyes”…I’m in danger, I think” Yusaku finally spoke after debating against himself regarding the truth of the matter. He winced when he heard Yukiko gasp quietly beside him “Whoever they are, they’re dangerous. The more I pry into it the less chance I see of being able to get out of this unharmed”_

_“..and we can’t change your mind can we?” Yukiko asked, although she knew what the answer was already._

_“No” Yusaku shook his head “Not for this case Yukiko, not until I take them down”_

_The two women gave each other looks at his answer. With one nod the both of them made up their minds “Then we’ll help you” Chikage tightened her hold on his shoulder “From now on we’re going to look out for each other. Yusaku, you don’t need to do this alone”_

_“That’s right darling” Yukiko pushed past his personal space and smiled at him “Please rely on us this time, we aren’t in need of as much protecting as you think”_

_Yusaku gaped at the both of them, part of him wanted to protest greatly, especially after…after Toichi. His heart sank at the thought of putting the two in any danger, he couldn’t bear to have that over his head, now most of all when his wounds were still fresh. One look at the both of them however, he knew that he couldn’t get in their way no matter how hard he tried. With that in mind, he decided that the best way to protect them was to keep them up to chase with what he knew so far “There are some things you need to know…” He began, hoping that he wasn’t making the wrong choice._

* * *

 

Five years ago today, the world was robbed of a beloved magician. At the same time, Kaito lost the father he loved dearly, but he had someone help him through the loss, someone who could almost be of equal importance.

The day Toichi died Kaito felt as though he had too. It was like a light had been flicked off and he was forced to walk a darkened room full of trip wires. He stumbled, he fell, he hurt himself, and in the end all he could comprehend was his own confusion before the pain of the injuries he sustained could register in his mind. So he stood still, trapped in darkness but at least he wouldn’t hurt, and it was the decision Kaito had resigned himself to, the decision he was ready to see through until the end.

That is, if Shinichi hadn’t come along.

Part of the young magician had always known that if anyone would come find him, it would be Shinichi. Where that faith came from wasn’t a large question the magician couldn’t answer, Shinichi had always been a nice person and a good friend, no one in the world was like him, at least Kaito thought so. So he wasn’t surprised that the other boy became his saving grace, though the pain of what he lost was still prominent, Shinichi had managed to help him ease it into a dull ache, still there but it didn’t hurt as much.

The years that followed after the tragedy had been shaky at best. Kaito had his own demons to fight but he knew his mother had hers too, between the two of them he did his best to be there for her as she had for him at most times. Lately though, his mother had seemed…distant? No that wasn’t it, more distracted than anything, she was always on the phone and on other days she would be going somewhere else, which mostly meant leaving him to his own devices.

“Aren’t you sad that she isn’t around?” On one of the days his mother had left him, she decided to leave him in the care of the Nakamoris. Ginzo didn’t have any reservations about looking after him, understanding that perhaps Chikage couldn’t take care of him and whatever business she had at the same time. Since the both of them were basically on the same boat now, he didn’t hesitate to reach out a hand to help her.

Aoko on the other hand, approached him with a gentleness most people extended towards a wounded, cornered animal. He appreciated how thoughtful she was, but in all honestly he just wanted to go back to the way things were. The question she gave him weren’t all different either, usually he would shrug them off “I’m okay, don’t worry too much Aoko-chan~” He would sing happily at her, pull a few tricks out his sleeve, and distract her for a little while until they could both talk normally again.

He didn’t miss the way she would try to comfort him though, for that at least he was grateful.

Sometimes his mother would be gone for more than a day, during those times he would be whisked away from Ekoda and given over to the Kudos, which was strange, because the two older Kudos wouldn’t be at home either. Usually only Shinichi would be there to greet him at the door “Where do you think they go?” He asked one day while Shinichi looked over the simple instructions his mother left for the two of them regarding some pre-heated lunch.

“I don’t know” Shinichi would tell him and that would be the end of that. Kaito knew Shinichi had his suspicions, the other boy would always tense up at the subject, but they both knew that answers wouldn’t come easily anymore. Not when the adults were involved. Kaito was afraid to think of what was happening behind closed doors, the last time they kept to themselves his father…

No it can’t be.

Right?

Kaito didn’t entertain those thoughts for long, but when they got bad Shinichi would be there to steady him on solid ground again.

“Hey” Shinichi sat beside him, startling him out of his thoughts and from grooming Nami. The dove on his lap let out a small screech when he accidentally pulled too hard on her feathers. He apologized quickly but didn’t stop her from fluttering away from him to land on Shinichi’s shoulder. The other boy was startled but he smiled at her and let her stay where she was before addressing the magician again “You’ve been staring at nothing for a while now, you sure you’re fine?”

“Ah uhm” Kaito blubbered out, his mind not really there at the moment “Y-Yeah, just- you know –distracted….” He winced at his excuse. Hanging his head the young magician shrugged “I don’t know, I can’t concentrate”

Shinichi scooted closer to him, the young magician- eleven years old at this time –locked up beside him. Whether Shinichi noticed the way his face reddened, he didn’t say anything. Hesitating but ultimately deciding that it could help, Shinichi reached one hand out to rub circles on Kaito’s back “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it yeah?”

The small smile matched with the tilted head was too much for the young magician to bear, especially how Nami peeked at him from Shinichi’s shoulder only added to the scene. Kaito felt his heart speed up “Y-yeah! Yeah of course we will!! Don’t doubt it for a second Shin-chan!” He answered back cheerily, taking in the widened smile Shinichi sent his way. It made his stomach do happy little flips he couldn’t explain. His Shin-chan always knew how to make him smile.

Ah, that’s right….Shinichi, his Shinichi.

When he first realized this, Kaito had mixed feelings. Since when did he start thinking of Shinichi as _his?_ He was never very sure but he was certain that no matter how hard he tried to search for it, he would never come to a solid answer. For a while the young magician would get flustered at the thought, he would shake his head and curl into himself, willing the thoughts to go away. It always ended with him tired and sighing deeply, wondering just where the heck those thoughts and feelings came from.

For the most part they weren’t bad, they just made him confused. In fact the feelings were always so warm and left him giddy but Kaito wasn’t too sure if he wanted what happens next if he allowed himself to drown in them. So for a while these took a backseat in his mind, sometimes asking for acknowledgement, sometimes they were quiet. Ironically enough, he never really thought about them when he was around Shinichi. Which was fine, he doesn’t like thinking about it anyway.

The answer came with age, but Kaito liked feeling it more than thinking of it.

“How about you _don’t_ just hide it in your sleeve??”

Kaito sighed deeply with a smile etched on his face. The young magician, now thirteen, leaned back against the couch behind him. Currently they were both seated on the floor, why not on the couch? He just felt that the floor was better for magic tricks, it was solid and didn’t sink or jump when he moved too much, an unfortunate trait in couches that he was disappointed in “Well Mr. Critic, care to elaborate on that?? I’ve told you once before, I can’t read minds my darling Shin-chan. If you think so highly of me though, I wouldn’t be _too_ bothered to learn how”

He snickered but as usual Shinichi only rolled his eyes at him _‘Always the serious one’_ Kaito thought fondly “Since you’re always so animated…” The magician leaned closer when he noticed the ‘advice-giving-Shinichi’ tone, as he so dubbed it, begin to worm into his friend’s voice “I just figured since you liked moving your hands so much why don’t you think of new hiding places for your flowers?” Shinichi was twirling a pink colored thornless rose in his hands, the very same one that Kaito had ‘poofed’ into existence not too long ago “Main point being gestures, Kaito” Shinichi waved a hand as if to demonstrate “Put your energy to good use, I’m sure if you make the right moves and are fast enough, no one will notice where you hid it, no matter what part of your body it’s on”

Kaito smiled at him, making a show of moving his arm around his body then snapped his fingers right in front of the other boy’s eyes. Shinichi blinked and looked down to see that his rose was replaced with the little white flower he had grown so familiar with. He looked up at Kaito, who was watching him closely, with a raised eyebrow. After a few seconds Shinichi shrugged with a nod “Impressive” He acknowledged “But too obvious”                                                                                                                                                 

The magician, whose smile was beginning to widen, suddenly deflated in front of him. Kaito gaped at him then crossed his arms “Uhm, _excuse me??_ ” He sniffed indignantly “I was _fast_ Shin-chan, don’t you dare tell me I wasn’t! _I’ve been practicing for years! _You know it’s true!! You said I was fast already!”

“Did I _say_ you were slow, _idiot magician??_ ” Shinichi flicked his nose with a flat stare, causing Kaito to squeak and cover his nose “Baaro! Listen closely will you? I said it was _impressive_ but you were _way_ too obvious in trying to make me look at your fidgety hands, that’s not misdirection moron, that’s a chicken dance distraction” The young detective sat back on his heels with a smug smile “ _Subtlety_ is the name of the game Kuroba”

Kaito rubbed his nose with a pout, he raised his hands “Ever the critic aren’t you?” He chuckled “Fine fine, I’ll work on my _subtlety_ as you say” His eyes flickered towards the white flower that Shinichi was still holding but he said nothing else.

“You know, you don’t really need to use this flower anymore” Shinichi held up the small plant to the light, examining the petals as if looking for something “You’ve already shown me how good you are with roses, time to move on from it don’t you think?”

“Well, what if I don’t want to?” Kaito challenged with a smirk, he leaned forward and brought Shinichi’s hand down from inspecting the flower, causing the other boy to blink at him in question, the little bloom between them swayed slightly “I like this flower Shin-chan, it’s a _reaaaal_ special flower. I grow it outside my bedroom window so I can see it every day when I wake up!”

Shinichi frowned at him, still making no move to take back his hand. Although he was always put off by extended physical contact, Kaito’s brand of touching was something he had grown used to, especially since they literally spent _years_ in each other’s proximity. Besides, the clingy idiot wouldn’t let him go if he tried “I’ve always wondered what kind of flower this was” When Kaito simply hummed at him Shinichi sighed “That was your cue to tell me its name, idiot”

“It’s called ‘The Shinichi flower’!” Kaito chirped.

Shinichi clicked his tongue at him and withdrew his hand, getting a small whine from Kaito “Whatever, I don’t really care anyway”

“Aw Shin-chan don’t be like that!” Shinichi yelped when he suddenly had a face full of stupid magician. The young detective sputtered as Kaito draped himself over him, the little white flower long lost in the tangle of limbs “I thought you liked figuring things out! Use that big beautiful brain of yours to find out what flower this is!”

“This isn’t really a mystery Kaito” Shinichi leaned his head back as the magician decided to rest his own on his chest “I could literally walk up to a local florist and ask ‘Hey what’s this flower?’ or I could look it up online and that would be the end, besides I’m not as flower obsessed as you so I’m not _that_ interested. Why don’t you just save me the trouble?”

“Whaaat?! Boo!!” Kaito huffed, wrapping his arms around Shinichi as he stared up at him “That’s cheating Shin-chan! I’ve been giving you hints for _years!_ Such a waste!” Kaito feigned disappointment as he tsked at Shinichi. Only hiding his smile when he noticed the way the young detective’s eyes shone with curiosity.

“Hints?” Shinichi looked down at him partly unbelieving and partly doubting, he narrowed his eyes “What hints?”

Kaito simply winked at him and produced the same flower again with a snap of his fingers, he waved it lazily in front of him “Would’ve thought your observation skills picked up on them, shame I don’t do reruns huh Shin-chan?” He tucked the flower into Shinichi’s hair, grinning as his favorite critic huffed at him and opted to mess up his hair in silent retaliation. Not that it mattered, his hair is messy anyway “Don’t worry your little head Shin-chan, I’ll keep dropping hints until you get it, but _only_ when the time is right”

“Now why is it that you managed to make _that_ sound suspicious?”

“Secrets are a magician’s best friend Shinichi dear” Kaito turned himself around so that he could drop his head into Shinichi’s lap to make himself comfortable “We _always_ sound suspicious”

“Huh? Last I checked I thought _I_ was your best friend” Shinichi teased, looking down at him.

Kaito stuck his tongue out but didn’t deny the fact “Sureeee but if you were really my _best friend_ you’d consider being my assistant now wouldn’t you?” He sniffled and pretended to be hurt, he placed his hand over his heart “Instead you just keep rejecting me, am I not good enough for you? Oh woe is me!” He sighed forlornly.

“Hm, now that I think about it maybe being your assistant won’t be so bad” Kaito paused at that and looked up at Shinichi, he froze when he saw no sarcasm or bored looks, just a soft smile directed his way. He was thankful for the shadow that loomed over his heating face. Shinichi plucked the white flower he left on his hair and twirled it in his fingers “But then, I’d know what happens behind the scenes when you do your magic tricks” He frowned at the flower before glancing down at Kaito “A shame I won’t be as impressed as if you actually managed to come up with an act that’ll slip by me, but you know, at least I’ll be your assistant like you’ve _always_ wanted right?”

Kaito gaped at him, realization dawned on the young magician and it hit him hard like ice water. Shinichi was right, as always. No way in hell would he give up the chance to amaze his dear Shinichi in favor of having him by his side always, the two were outcomes he liked but one was greater than the other “On second thought maybe give my offer a rain check Shin-chan” When Shinichi gave him a sly smirk Kaito added: “It’s a pity though, I was planning out your outfit already, all sparkly, poofy and cute, _no one_ would look away from you. That counts as misdirection yeah?”

The magician grinned at the slight blush that dusted Shinichi’s face, he cackled maniacally when he was promptly shoved off Shinichi’s lap with a certain little flower squished to his face “I’m going to forget that you admitted to fantasizing about me in some sort of weird outfit” Shinichi raised his hands as if preparing to push him away again “Next time _don’t_ say that stuff out loud you maniac”

“Not if you keep reacting like that Shin-chan~” He sang happily, waving his hands in circles as if rearing for a trick. Shinichi eyed him fearfully when a gleam of mischief twinkled in his eyes, Kaito figured that he may as well go through with his not-really-threat “Pastel pink would look good on you if I do it right” He hummed thoughtfully and began to advance towards his friend. Shinichi stood up in alarm but he followed suit “Or blue, baby blue maybe, blue has always been your color. Oh!” He snapped, grinning like he reached an epiphany “Pink with blue accents!!”

“ _Kaito_ ” Shinichi hissed in warning, still backing up as fast as Kaito was moving towards him “Don’t you dare!” When the magician seemed more preoccupied playing dress up with him in his mind, the young detective’s eyes darted behind him for any escape route he could find.

There was a puff of smoke and suddenly his vision was blocked. Shinichi scrambled backwards when Kaito was suddenly in front of him, waving a finger from side to side “Now now Shin-chan” He tsked “It’s rude to run away from your guests”

The Kudo mansion was peaceful, outside it a little white dove rested quietly near a windowsill. The dove named Nami cooed in her sleep, sometimes she ruffled her feathers and burrowed deeper into her own fluffy domain. A loud crash and a surprised scream jolted the dove from her slumber. Cooing slightly in distress, Nami peered into the window she was once sleeping beside, her little head bouncing about in search for the cause of the commotion, more so when she recognized the scream had belonged to her other master.

 Not that she could do much about it, but she was trained to alert her first master should her other one sound or look to be in distress. The dove quieted down when she recognized that no one was in immediate danger and that the two masters were safely together, being a bird she didn’t quite understand what they were doing but since she was, well, a _bird_ she couldn’t care less either. With that done the dove went back to dozing peacefully on the windowsill, the faint sounds of a scuffle and Shinichi’s scream of _“YOU MANIAC!”_ being her lullaby as she drifted off to sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

The past five years haven’t been easy, that much Shinichi could admit, but they weren’t _awful_. After all, spending the first two worrying over his grieving friend and the next three worrying over his parents’ escapades could put quite a damper on his overall mood. There was only so much he could handle at the same time, not that he minded helping his friend, but emotional exhaustion was a real thing.

Kaito had, thankfully, recovered somewhat from his loss. Obviously Shinichi didn’t expect him to make a _full_ recovery, no one gets back from losing a loved one, but Kaito had assured him that he was mostly fine and ready to take on the world again. He has his slip ups, yes, but Shinichi had taken it upon himself to walk him through the tightrope he found himself on, although he trusted the magician enough to know that he can cross it on his own later.

With Kaito safe and on solid ground, Shinichi thought most of his worries were over. They were back to their old routine: Kaito would be a nuisance and begin exploding everything with flowers, Shinichi would debunk him and make sure he wouldn’t hurt himself, the magician would grin and persuade him into some convoluted scheme, he would protest and say no but will end up an accomplice either way. Same old, same old.

Shinichi huffed, history repeated itself _way_ too accurately, because suddenly their parents were keeping secrets again.

It was like he was six years old once more, watching as the adults crept around the two of them, whispering behind their backs and locking their doors. He hated the feeling. He was older now wasn’t he? Why did all of them insist on treating him like a child? Surely they knew he was capable of handling tough situations by now.

As much as he loved the adults, being absent from their lives was stretching the limit too thin. It came to the point where he actually _missed_ the way his mother doted on him when he was a child, she still does but usually it’s in quick passing.

_“You know where the food is right Shin-chan?”  Yukiko slipped on a warm coat as she passed by the library where Shinichi had taken to. She happily skipped towards her son and ruffled his hair while he grunted and ducked away from her touch when she wouldn’t let up “I wouldn’t want my baby boy to starve while I’m gone!”_

_“I won’t mom” He sighed at her but a smile wormed its way through his expression “Just don’t do anything rash while you’re out”_

_“Aww! My baby worries that much over me?” Yukiko giggled and pinched his cheek._

_“Ow! Mom!” Shinichi rubbed his face, merely pouting as she leaned down to give him a kiss on the head._

_“Just behave Shinichi, not that I don’t think you will!” A horn blared outside the home, signaling Yukiko’s time to leave. With one happy goodbye she left her son alone. Shinichi saw her off then went back to his latest novel once the door slammed shut and the mansion grew quiet._

More and more Shinichi found himself wandering his empty home, peace had always been something he valued but static continual silence was enough to grate on his nerves at times. Without his mother’s loud presence or the quiet but recognizable one of his father’s in the background, it almost felt too stifling to be left on his own, he hadn’t realized how big the Kudo mansion was until now.

Shinichi was surprised at himself, there had never really been a time in his life where he craved company, he should be used to this but suddenly he wasn’t. It was a jarring feeling.

On one of the days where he was left on his own found Shinichi staring out into the sky on the second floor of his house. He had opened a window simply because he needed to hear _something_ other than the idle chatter of the television, since he didn’t watch whatever was on anyway only made it a waste of energy. A soft cooing beside him caught his attention, the young detective lifted his head and peered to the side where a dove stared at him, he furrowed his eyebrows for a moment and ventured into a guess “Ah, Nami is that you?”

The dove cooed and hopped closer, the little _tip-tap_ of her feet sounding louder than it should. As if to confirm his question, she jumped on his arm and ruffled her feathers at him, quietly observing his movements with the curiosity only birds had. Shinichi chuckled and petted her gently “How did you get all the way out here? You must be something else to remember where my home is”

She wouldn’t answer him of course but Shinichi couldn’t help but talk to her, an unfortunate side effect of being around Kaito he supposed. Nami puffed her chest out, preening at the praise, Shinichi tsked at her and poked her chest causing the bird to chirp in surprise and stare up at him almost accusingly “Don’t let it get to your head” He chided jokingly, waving his finger at her. Nami retaliated by pecking said finger.

Shinichi had taken to opening up that very same window during particular times every day, he would even leave out little food dishes from time to time when Nami decided to stay outside for the duration of her visit, sometimes she flew in to kept him company while he milled about doing menial tasks around the house. He wasn’t _exactly_ sure why Nami had taken to visiting him these days but he had a good guess that Kaito had at least a minor part in it.

A small side of him liked to believe that the bird simply missed him, he had spent a majority of his life with her too after all. Nami’s constant urge to cuddle up on his shoulder may have fueled that belief a tad, touchy like her owner it seemed. Shinichi didn’t mind it, he liked having her around.

“Why is it that you suddenly have a bird holmes geek?” Sonoko narrowed her eyes at him then darted it towards the dove on his shoulder, Nami seemed to glare back. It was a day wherein Ran had convinced him to come out of the house and spend a bit of time with her. As usual his parents were gone so he didn’t have a lot of protests. They, including Sonoko, decided that just walking around Beika for a while would be somewhat therapeutic after the hectic week of finals they were having.

“She isn’t mine” Shinichi responded simply, sipping some hot tea from his cup while Nami cooed threateningly at Sonoko. The sight made Shinichi smile, he reached up a hand to pet her.

Ran giggled beside him as she took to petting the dove as well, Nami seemed happy with all the attention she was given “This _is_ Nami-chan right? I wonder if Kaito-kun’s the one that’s been sending her over” She raised an eyebrow at her friend, smirking as she did so.

Shinichi caught her stare but was only a little put off by it, he frowned “Maybe? I’m not sure, Kaito hasn’t told me anything about making Nami visit me all the time”

“ _All the time_ Shinichi?”

The young detective’s eyebrows furrowed at Ran’s tone “Yes? Is there something wrong with that??”

“Pffbt” Sonoko covered her mouth with her hand. The heiress rolled her eyes at him “Ha! It’s a shame Ran spent too many years suffering through a broken heart, you’re _hopeless!!_ ” She sighed dramatically and slung one arm around Ran “Seems to me someone’s trying to steal your man, gonna do anything about it??”

“Wha-! SONOKO!!” Ran’s face dusted pink at the accusation, she tried to ignore the way Shinichi nearly choked on his drink beside her while Sonoko snickered at her “You’ve gotta stop that one day! It isn’t like that!!” She hid her face in her hands.

Shinichi on the other hand tried to get the tea from out his lungs, he pounded on his chest as Nami flapped her wings in alarm on his shoulder. The young Kudo willed his embarrassment away, hoping to whatever deity was looking down on humanity that Ran wouldn’t see him blushing. He watched as his childhood friend continued to protest and duck her head at the implications about their relationship courtesy of Sonoko. Shinichi bit his lower lip, their relationship, what was it?

Looking at Ran, at the strong, determined, compassionate girl that she was he couldn’t deny that a lot of things about her made him feel some sort of attraction. He cared about her a lot, that much was true, she was the only one who had ever given him the time of day and decided that she liked him despite his flaws, she was the girl who enjoyed spending time with him and being there when no one else would be, she was the one that grounded him when he took things too far.

In every sense of the word she was his best friend, it wouldn’t even be a stretch to say that he loved her too, she just meant that much.

A long long time ago, he wouldn’t think twice about the way he felt about her, but now he wasn’t very sure, why was that? He didn’t know himself. Still, looking at her now and seeing the person who he grew up with, he can’t say that he _doesn’t_ feel anything, Ran had always been important to him after all.

On his shoulder, Nami cooed softly in his ear, the dove burrowed under his scarf and popped her little head out once she settled down. Shinichi blinked, turning his attention away from his best friend and down to the creature, he chuckled at her and made sure that his scarf wasn’t wound up too tight so that she could still move around. When the dove rubbed against his cheek with her head he idly wondered if Kaito taught her how to be as touchy as he was, it wouldn’t surprise him, Kaito did the same thing sometimes…

“-sband even looked at you like he was looking at the stars! Isn’t that right Shinichi?” His hearing picked up on Sonoko saying his name. He glanced back at the two girls beside him and figured out that the other girl had caught him staring at Ran, he reddened and blubbered out protests while Sonoko cackled “Aaah! Too love struck as always!! Why aren’t you guys married yet- Oh wait you are!!”

“Sonokoooo!!” Ran hit her friend’s shoulder and huffed at her laughter. She really had to stop teasing her about this, she didn’t think she could take any more especially after _years_ of the same thing. Besides, it wouldn’t ever be like that, not with Shinichi. She darted her eyes towards her friend who had taken to giving all his attention to the dove that tagged along with them, she knew he did it to avoid embarrassment but she could still see a soft fondness in his eyes when he looked at the bird, and she was sure as hell that it wasn’t just Nami on his mind.

“How much food does he even feed you?” Ran caught the barely muttered question as Shinichi prodded at the little dove “Doves aren’t supposed to be this skinny right? Tch, idiot magician’s gonna starve you…might need to call...” She smiled to herself as Shinichi’s words quieted down to his silent musings.

They continued on in relative peace with their walk soon after, Sonoko kept most of the conversation going while Shinichi would come in once or twice with his own input about whatever topic they were on, Ran had to appreciate the calmness of it, she was happy that her friend didn’t seem too down as he had been the past few weeks. She patted herself on the back for making the right call about inviting Shinichi out, that house was becoming much too dreary for him after all.

Ran had to wonder why the Kudo parents were suddenly missing from their son’s life, she just hoped they weren’t going to do anything drastic.

 

* * *

 

 

Kaito sat quietly on his desk, a sight that a lot of his classmates were astounded by. By now the prankster would have pulled _something_ that’ll disrupt the class but today he seemed content with sitting still and throwing occasional glances at the window. His inaction alone had the other occupants of the class worried, some shot him quick looks over their shoulders while some prepared for the worse, even the teacher looked unnerved but tried to take it as a blessing, he didn’t succeed much as the last time he thought this way his entire desk had spontaneously combusted into small glittery plush toys.

Though he seemed mostly bored to a lot of people, Kaito was actually feeling pretty antsy. Today he sent Nami over to Beika to look after a certain young detective that he was particularly fond of, it wasn’t just because he wanted Shinichi to have company while he wasn’t around- not today at least- but because he had done a bit of snooping early in the morning and found out something he maybe shouldn’t have.

The adults have been worrying him lately, they were doing the exact same thing his own father and Yusaku-ojisan had done before the accident. Call it a gut feeling but Kaito didn’t feel good about whatever was going on with the grownups. He wondered once if it was just an old fear coming back, the accident with his father had come not long after he started becoming secretive, as a child Kaito had connected the two and treated the latter as a bad omen but later chalked it up to an irrational fear. Now that he was older though, he could fathom that maybe he wasn’t far off.

_His mother had just returned from her impromptu trip, Kaito didn’t get the chance to greet her good morning as she immediately went for the phone, she didn’t even notice that he was coming down the stairs. Instead of making his presence known, the young magician crept up a few more steps and focused his hearing on the seemingly frantic conversation his mother was having._

_“-are you two?!” He caught part of it and frowned at the implied question and the tone of her voice “Yusaku……for now..away…” Kaito gritted his teeth when she lowered her voice after the initial outburst. He felt his heart sink when he heard the names of the Kudo parents being uttered with such concern and urgency. The young magician decided that today Nami would be sent over to Beika early, just in case._

As terrifying a guess as it was, Kaito assumed the worst about what could be happening to the adults. It was clear as day that they would never tell him or Shinichi anything if they asked, but the signs pointing to another tragedy were coming fast and strong, it left him reeling but he would know what to look for, he’s gone through it once before.

There were too many tells to count: The secrets, leaving frequently, coded messages, the too obvious fatigue in each adult, and the paranoia. His father was like that.

Kaito’s hands stilled, he hadn’t even noticed that he took out his cards and began to play with them, they were the cards Shinichi had gifted him on Christmas, still in mint condition and well cared for. He looked down at the blue cards he held and clenched his hand around them. He knew what it was like to lose someone you loved, Shinichi didn’t. He was going to make sure that he would _never_ know.

When the last period rolled in, everyone let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding. The students discreetly followed the now famous prankster’s movements as he picked up his belongings and made a beeline for the door, though they were grateful it was a little concerning to see him come and go without any tricks. Aoko was one of the many who stared after him in concern, she maneuvered around the classroom to catch him before he could leave “Kaito…” She reached out to touch him.

_BANG!_

Young magician suddenly popped like a balloon right in front of her eyes, pink glittery smoke flooded the classroom. The students yelled in surprise while some shouted something about winning a bet. Aoko screamed when she felt a strong gust of wind whip around her, she blinked rapidly and tried to gain her vision back as the smoke lifted from the room “Don’t tap the glass!! You could startle them!” She looked up at the sound of her friend’s voice, she gaped at the glass that blocked the exits of their room. Kaito grinned at her from the outside “Aw look! One of them came up to say hi! Say hi everyone!!” The students behind Kaito were looking around in confusion, they stared down at the disposable cameras in their hands and the gaudy flora patterned shirts they were suddenly wearing, they don’t even remember _how_ they got there.

Aoko knew that Kaito had done something for sure and looked around her to see that her entire class had somehow been dressed in full body bunny outfits, some too fluffy for her tastes. She snapped her attention towards herself and stared, open mouthed, at the frilly strawberry patterned bunny princess get up she had been put in.

She touched her face and realized that she had whiskers on too, she growled and threw herself against the glass, pounding on it “ _BAKAITOOOOO-! AH?!”_ She _squeaked_ , an honest to god _squeak_. Her voice sounded high pitched and small, she tried it again and got the same results. She yelled “ _BAKAITO! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE I’M GOING TO RIP YOUR IDIOT HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS!!”_ She tried to kick the glass down but found that her shoes’ soles had springs attached to them, making her bounce backwards.

“Bunnies are cute aren’t they??” Kaito grinned at his ‘tourist group’ who nodded awkwardly, unsure of what to make of the situation. When he heard Aoko’s angry chirps- _Aaaaw~!_ – he decided that a quick escape was to be made. The glass won’t last long against the wrath of the Nakamori girl, he was sure of it and he didn’t want to die either so there’s that. With a bow and a few last reminders to not tap the glass, the magician ducked away from the crowd and out into the streets outside the school. The loud shattering noise from inside told him that Aoko wouldn’t be far behind with a weapon to pummel him into the ground with, a detour it is then.

When he was certain of his safety the magician sighed to himself and looked up at the darkening sky. If he was being honest that little stunt was a panic flick, the moment he noticed his friend zero in on him he knew that she wouldn’t leave him alone until she got answers. Aoko didn’t need to know what was happening, no he wouldn’t do that to her. She was a sweet girl and he knew for a fact that she would listen to him should he need to talk about it, but he didn’t want or need to talk about it with her, she had her own problems as it is, he didn’t want to add another one.

Movement from above cause Kaito to look up, he cupped his hands around his mouth and called out “Ah! Nami-chaaaan!!” When he first noticed the flutter of wings above him, Kaito had no doubts about which one of his doves were out that evening, only one of them would be at this time anyway. On cue Nami swooped down from the sky and landed on the outstretched arm Kaito held out for her, the bird pecked at her feathers for a bit before shaking her head and turning her full attention towards the young magician. Kaito grinned at her and offered a small treat for her hard work that day “So, how is he?”

Nami nibbled happily on her new treat but beat her wings two times in response to the magician’s question. Kaito hummed thoughtfully at her, being the only one to understand what the dove was trying to say “Really? He hasn’t been too lonely right??” A soft coo and a tap of a beak was his response “Aaah Ran-chan, of course” He frowned “And the parents??” Nami finished the last of her bird treat and looked up at him, she ruffled her feathers and chirped. Kaito sighed “Still not home..right”

Growing up with a father that usually hopped from one city to another, Kaito had the most experience when it came to dealing with parents vanishing suddenly. Which was a reason why he wasn’t too concerned about his mother running around all of a sudden, he could handle himself fine.

Shinichi on the other hand, he was a whole other story. From what it looked like, the Kudo parents had never been far from their son, Yukiko most of all as she spent more time fussing over her him than anything else, but then suddenly they were gone without warning. Shinichi was left on his own a lot these days. That thought alone soured Kaito’s stomach, his friend being alone all the time didn’t sit well with him, not his Shinichi. He thanked his lucky stars that at least Ran-chan would be there.

“You like Shinichi don’t you Nami-chan?” Kaito resumed his seemingly one-sided conversation with his favorite dove, she tilted her head at him, he smiled “Yeah of course you do! Who _wouldn’t_ like Shinichi?” He grinned to himself and tapped Nami on the beak “Nee, you wouldn’t mind keeping him company tomorrow too right?” The dove sat quietly on his shoulder, she burrowed into her feathers “I’m taking that as a definite yes!” With a nod, Kaito continued his walk back to his home, whistling a happy tune all the way.

_Riiing! Riiiiing!_

Kaito stopped short on the entrance to his home, the young magician blinked and looked down to fish out his cellphone from his pocket. He felt Nami take off from his side as he answered the call “Hellooo~? Kaito speaking!...Oh hi Shin-chan!!” Kaito opened the door to his house, snickering all the while as he listened to his friend on the phone “Whaaaat? You wound me! I would _never_ starve my dear Nami-chan!...Shinichi she isn’t _that_ thin! I’m feeding her a healthy amount of food! Silly silly Shin-chan” As the door closed behind him, the conversation lasted for a while longer.

There was one point during the night when Nami’s food dish suddenly seemed suspiciously filled with more food than she was used to, the other doves cooed in what Kaito assumed was jealousy, everybody got equal share in the end.

 

* * *

 

 

On a sunny Saturday morning Kaito decided that he would drop by Beika to say hello to his favorite critic, the thought alone sent a warm giddy feeling through him. The young magician yawned as he sat up on his bed, he stretched his limbs and let out a sigh, hopping off the bed he turned to the window nearest him where a patch of white flowers grew, he threw the window open “Gooood morning!” He greeted the blooms as he watered them, careful not to give too much and drown the plants. When he was satisfied with his work, he plucked a small bundle of the matured flowers and made them disappear into whatever hole he kept his other props in. Kaito hummed happily to himself, Shinichi will like these ones.

With a renewed energy no other sane person could have so early in the morning on a weekend, Kaito crossed his room ready to start a good day, though he stopped when he reached his father’s image. The young Kuroba gave the large photo a once over, wordlessly he reached a hand out to touch it but drew it back when he got close, the young magician let out a breath and finally let his fingers brush against the photo. Toichi’s smile never faltered “….good morning dad” He smiled at the photo and let his hand fall back. He hadn’t felt the familiar sting in his chest in a long while, when once just looking at the photo was too much nowadays he almost had no problem with it. That was a good sign.

With a two fingered energetic salute directed at the older Kuroba, Kaito went on his merry way, still as happy as he was when he woke up.

“Mooom!” Kaito called out as he hopped down the stairs, now dressed and ready to head off “Mom are you home!? I’m heading down to Beika today! Just wanted to let you know..” The young magician scouted out the house in search of the older Kuroba, he checked the living room and the kitchen but she wasn’t there. He figured she must have gone out again, nothing new, but she did at least leave him a sandwich, that was nice. Kaito hopped over to the back garden, he slid the glass door aside and called out for his dove, Nami quickly flew in and joined him, she waited quietly as he picked up the breakfast sandwich then took her place on his shoulder as they headed out. Kaito quietly passed her pieces of his sandwich along the way.

Beika had always felt different to the young magician. There was something about the city that had a heavier atmosphere than that of Ekoda’s, though he wasn’t arrogant in assuming that his home city was safer, heavens no they had their own fair share of crimes, even Kaitou KID made appearances before, still he couldn’t shake off the feeling no matter how hard he tried. Beika had a surprising amount of homicide cases after all, a fact he learned from Shinichi himself.

_“No way!” Kaito couldn’t stop himself from speaking in an almost frantic tone “Shin-chan don’t you go out there!!” He heard shuffling noises on the other side of the line, he feared for the worst “Shin-chan!! SHINICHI! Did you hear what I said?!”_

_“I did” Came his friend’s almost nonchalant tone, too uncaring for Kaito’s tastes for someone who found out that a person got **murdered** near their house “I think I see Megure-keibu out there, I bet he’s looking for my dad, he isn’t here right now so-“_

_“Shinichi I swear to GOD that if you go outside and **involve** yourself in a murder case I will run over there and lock you inside your own house!!” _

_Kaito knew that his threat was dutifully ignored when he heard the telltale sound of a door being opened, he was about to protest when Shinichi cut in “I can’t really see the body but there are definitely drag marks there….wait, they came out of nowhere, how did- hmm”_

_The magician paled at the description of the crime scene he was involuntarily given, Kaito’s heart thundered loudly in his chest “Shinichi get back **inside** and **lock** your doors!! CALL YOUR DAD!” He could hear his friend still mumbling on the other side “Shinichi listen to me!! This isn’t a game or- or one of your novels! It’s a real **murder** case!!”_

_“Like I don’t know that?” Shinichi sounded somewhat offended but Kaito was just happy that the other boy was paying attention to him again “I’ll be fine Kaito, I know what I’m doing, things like this has happened before. Dad made sure I was ready for them just in case”_

_“ **What?!** ” Kaito opened and closed his mouth, unbelieving. He shook his head “Shinichi I still don’t think this is a good idea! What if the murderer saw you talking to the police?? It happened near your house right? What if they think you saw them?!?! YOUR PARENTS AREN’T EVEN AROUND EITHER!!! This is _**dangerous**! _”_

_“Kaito relax” By now the magician could hear distant chatter mixed with radio noise, Shinichi was nearing the crime scene “Megure-keibu would have come by my house anyway, I’m just saving him the trip. I’ll call my dad if that’ll make you feel better, I’m sure the police would want to talk to him too”_

_“Shinichi….”_

_“Kaito seriously, I know what to do. You don’t have to worry about me too much, just let me handle this okay?” There was a muffled sound in the back, Shinichi responded to whoever addressed him “I’ll call you back, Megure-keibu’s asking me to come forward. Talk to you soon”_

_“Wai-!” The call ended shortly after Shinichi bid his farewell. Kaito stared down at his phone, wide eyed and worried. He trusted that Shinichi was telling the truth about having a plan should something like this happen but what he was worried about was whether or not Shinichi could resist playing detective, it was his dream to become one after all._

_Kaito dialed his mother’s number as fast as he could, hoping that she could at least get in touch with the Kudo parents ahead of time._

Walking down the city’s streets certainly had another vibe to it, but Beika was still just a city, of course it would have its off days and good ones but one would have to wonder why Division One of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department was permanently stationed here. This city just seemed to attract trouble, and the worst kind of them all it seemed. Kaito just hoped the police work here was at the top of its game.

The people were friendly though, no different from the usual smiling faces he would see in Ekoda. There were some kids who even stopped and stared at him in wonder when they caught sight of Nami sitting on his shoulder, he couldn’t say no to the faces they gave him and it ended up with him giving the little tykes an impromptu show, not a very extravagant one as he hadn’t brought that many props along but with Nami’s help the children were left in awe anyway. Quite a few of them actually requested to hold Nami when Kaito neared the end of his performance, his dove was of course all too happy with the attention.

When the kids waved him goodbye Kaito’s spirit was lifted even more, he had always felt this way after pulling off a successful performance. Even the small crowd of adults he had managed to gather were impressed with his little street performance. The praises and applauses were always nice but he lived for their looks of amazement and the happiness he managed to make them feel, it was the best part of being a magician.

Nami had flown ahead of him since she was already familiar with the neighborhood they entered, he mentally patted himself on the back for successfully teaching her the way towards the Kudo mansion, on top of everything she already knew he was proud of her for remembering this one.

When he neared the gate however, a strange sight made him slow down and quiet his steps. In front of the gate were the two Kudo parents and Shinichi, there was a car waiting to be boarded as well. Kaito’s eyes darted towards the suitcase Yukiko was holding as Yusaku loaded another one into the trunk of the waiting car, he crept closer and strained his hearing.

“..ow it might be hard to understand right now Shinichi” Yukiko’s voice fluttered in, almost too quiet for the young magician to hear “There’s just something your father and I- we, um..” Yukiko’s voice shook with each word, the mother placed her hand over her chest and breathed out slowly “We have something to do you know? Something new and this could be it!” Kaito blinked at the sudden shift of her voice, wasn’t it a bit too cheery from her previous one?

“I’ve gotta escape my editors _somehow_ son” Yusaku’s voice joined in, the novelist slung an arm around his wife, smiling a bit too much “I think America will do wonders for us, take a lil breather from all…” He gestured a hand around the general area “this”

Kaito sucked in a breath, did he just hear what he thought he heard? He didn’t like where this conversation pointed to. Stepping out from where he was, the young Kuroba walked towards the family, he noticed how quiet Shinichi was through the whole exchange, the boy hadn’t even looked up once. He gritted his teeth “Yusaku-ojisan, Yukiko-obasan, what’s all this?” He asked once he was close enough.

Shinichi startled at the new voice, he looked up in surprise at his friend “Kaito?”

“Oh! Kaito-kun, what are you doing here?” Yukiko genuinely looked surprised at his sudden entrance. She gave a quick glance to her husband before turning to the other boy again “Did your mom send you over? I thought she said you were coming later?”

Kaito’s eyes widened “Wait what? My mom-?” He shook his head, filing away that information for a later date “No I, I came here by myself but- what’s going on??” He feigned ignorance, he gave pointed looks at the suitcases the two Kudo parents had with them, they weren’t even done loading them all into the car “You…aren’t leaving are you?” He watched as Yukiko fidget nervously and Yusaku momentarily lock up “Are you?” He asked again, pulling down his poker face to stave away the fury of emotions that he was suddenly feeling.

“Kaito…” Yukiko finally broke the silence, she reached a hand out to touch his shoulder but drew it back when he flinched away from her. She bit her lower lip “We- your mother included- were supposed to have a little talk with you and Shinichi” She looked back at her son with a frown then back at Kaito “It’s a little hard to explain dear but…well, Yusaku and I decided that we’ll leave Japan for a little while”

“’A little while’?” Kaito echoed incredulously, the amount of suitcases pointed to the duration of their leave being for more than ‘A little while’.

“Please try to understand Kaito-kun, we aren’t just doing this for no reason”

“Why then?”

“We can’t-“

“You can’t tell us?” Kaito cut in almost too harshly making Yukiko’s eyes widen at the accusation.

“Kaito” Shinichi moved past his mother and put a hand on top of Kaito’s arm as if holding him back, his name was said in warning.

Kaito looked at his friend then back at the parents who seemed content with avoiding his gaze “Wait, are you seriously going to leave Shinichi alone?” The silence was enough for him. Kaito sucked in a breath “That- that’s not okay…” He turned back to his friend who only gazed back at him with a resigned air about him “Shinichi you can’t be okay with this, are you?”

“It’s not like I can stop them, this is their choice”

“Not like-?! Shinichi you’re their _son!_ ” Kaito looked back at the Kudo parents, he was finding it a little hard to keep calm with each second that passed them “He’s your _son!!_ You can’t be seriously thinking about just- just _leaving_ him here alone!”

“We’re not” Yusaku said, finally looking up to meet the young magician’s gaze “Your mother knows about our departure Kaito-kun, she agreed to stop by the mansion and look after Shinichi from time to time, that was what we were supposed to talk to the both of you about”

“ _That isn’t the same!_ ” Kaito pressed, ignoring how Shinichi pushed against him, pleading with him to back off “You’re supposed to be here all the time! Shinichi’s _supposed_ to grow up with the both of you around!! You’re the only parents he has and ever will have! You can’t just decide to _willingly_ separate yourselves from him! _You can’t just **choose** disappear from his life like that!!_” Kaito breathed heavily as he finished, a storm of emotions behind his eyes and his poker face long gone. A familiar kind of sting lanced through his lungs with each word spoken, almost as if a stitched up wound began to open up again and it _hurt._

Yukiko’s hands flew up to her mouth, the ex-actress let out a sob and turned away from the two boys. Her shoulders shook as she tried to rein her emotions in. The young magician felt a pang of guilt hit him but before he could apologize, Shinichi took his arm and began to lead him away from the parents and into the road behind them “Kaito let’s just…let’s just go somewhere else..” Kaito was torn between following after Shinichi or staying behind to properly apologize for taking it too far, but one look from his friend made him know just what to choose. He shot Yukiko an apologetic look she didn’t see and let Shinichi lead him away. Yusaku sighed and came up to his wife, comforting her.

The walk back into the busier streets of Beika was quiet. It wasn’t uncomfortable, it wasn’t calm, it was just _quiet._ Shinichi hadn’t said anything to him since they left the Kudo parents on their own, in fact the young detective took to looking to the sides, to the ground, to the sky, basically anywhere that wasn’t Kaito. What unnerved the young magician however was the blank, empty expression Shinichi wore that hadn’t changed at all, there was no light behind his eyes, no fire in his gaze, just nothing, just _quiet_.

“Shinichi I…” Kaito decided to break the silence, at Shinichi’s absentminded hum he continued “back there with your mom I- I didn’t mean to upset her like that, I was just talking and thoughts got in my head and I just….I said things” He finished quietly, rubbing his left wrist.

“It’s okay, I know you didn’t mean it” Kaito blinked at the response, he looked at his friend in question and this time Shinichi met his eyes “I know mom knows you didn’t mean it either, it’s fine” Shinichi folded his hands behind his back and returned his gaze to the floor, they still kept walking, not really going anywhere but they didn’t feel like stopping either “….I think, maybe I saw this coming already” He started, Kaito moved a little closer to listen “They were gone a lot these past few years, maybe when I was younger I was scared that they’d leave for good, maybe if they did back then I’d be sad”

Shinichi sighed and shrugged his shoulders “I don’t feel that way anymore, perhaps it’s _because_ I knew it could happen one day that I’m already prepared for it” He smiled and shook his head, turning to face his friend again “I know it sounds sad when I say it out loud but honestly it’s not that bad, it’s not like they’re cutting me off completely you know? Mom even told me she’d call almost every week while they’re gone” He laughed “Sounds like a nightmare honestly”

Kaito smiled back at him albeit sadly, the young magician wordlessly held his hand, a gesture that had become familiar to the both of them over the years “Are you sure you’ll be okay? You don’t have to lie to me you know”

Shinichi rolled his eyes though fondly, he squeezed Kaito’s hand “I’ll be fine you worrywart, I think I can take care of myself well enough”

“That’s not what I meant”

Shinichi paused at that, he huffed and bumped Kaito with his shoulder “God, you and mom have too much in common regarding the company I have” He scoffed at that “You heard it already, your mom will stop by from time to time which only gives _you_ an excuse to come visit, there’s also Professor Agasa next door, and of course Ran who I’ll be seeing every day anyway. It’s not like I have a shortage of people in my life” He gave Kaito an amused smile, raising one eyebrow as if to challenge his words “I won’t be alone _all_ the time, so stop worrying _idiot magician_ ”

Kaito grinned at that, he chuckled and swung their hands between them “Ugh, insulting me when I’m only _worried_ about you. What a heartless tantei-kun!” He sniffled and pretended to wipe away a tear “I’m so _hurt!!_ ”

“Tch, drama queen”

“At least that means my heart is alive and well to feel those emotions, yours is cold and dead and probably all shriveled up”

“That’s inconsistent. I thought you said I was _heartless_ you fool”

 “A shriveled up grape isn’t a heart Shin-chan, especially one that makes you so _mean!_ ” Kaito smiled wide as Shinichi laughed beside him. The young magician waved his free hand and offered a small bouquet of the little white flowers he had come to associate with Shinichi, in the center of it however was a single lavender rose, its petals seemed to twinkle.

“Oh, wow that’s a new one” Shinichi took the bouquet and gave Kaito a once over “You’ve never tried pulling out multiple flowers all at once before”

Preening at the subtle praise, Kaito’s steps became a bit more energetic “Try everything once then master it later!” He jumped his eyebrows at his friend “You like??”

Shinichi huffed and rolled his eyes “Show me again when I’m not distracted and we’ll see” He held the bouquet close to his chest, admiring the color of the rose.

Kaito tightened his hold on Shinichi’s hand, it wasn’t the first time he held it but the warmth and the _feeling_ of Shinichi just right there beside him, close enough for him to touch, was a feeling he was sure he would never get tired of, no matter how many years passed them both “It’s a promise Shin-chan” He gazed fondly at his friend, Shinichi had taken to examining his bouquet, although the quiet came back between them, Kaito was more than happy to walk down the road with Shinichi, hand in hand. Part of him hoped the walk would last long.

It wasn’t exactly the ideal way he wanted to start his weekend, but right there and now with Shinichi at his side, it was good enough.

 

* * *

 

 

“We’re making the right decision aren’t we?” Yukiko wiped away her tears with a handkerchief while Yusaku finished loading the last of their suitcases into the car “Yusaku, leaving our baby alone isn’t a mistake _right?_ ”

Yusaku turned to her with a sad expression, he hugged her tight “It isn’t, he’ll be safer this way…they both will be” He held her at arms length and mumbled the next words under his hand, just in case “America should give us more security, if I’m right they might start tracing all my activities back to Japan, it’ll be too risky to stay here longer than we should. Moving around could put them off for long, this way we’ll still be safe at least” Yusaku gave her a reassuring smile “Besides, we’re leaving Shinichi with capable hands. You trust Chikage don’t you?”

Yukiko sighed and looked to the ground “Of course I do….it’s just..I’m leaving my baby Yusaku” Yukiko pressed her hand against her eyes, feeling the way they watered the instant she thought about her dear Shinichi “I’m leaving my baby and I don’t know how long until I’ll see him again…our Shinichi, I won’t be able to hold him anymore..I won’t be able to watch him grow up” She sobbed into her hands.

Yusaku’s heart twisted painfully inside his chest, the thought of leaving his boy left as much of a sour taste in his mouth as it did for his wife, but he trusted that Shinichi would be find on his own, he knew what his son was capable of, and the people surrounding him were enough to keep him safe “I know it’ll be hard Yukiko” Yusaku pried her hands away from her face to look into her eyes, he wiped her tears away with his thumb “But remember why we’re doing this in the first place, if we succeed then Toichi receives the justice he deserves, not only that but we’ll keep the boys away from harm as long as we watch over them from afar….” He kissed her briefly, more for comfort than anything else “We’ll be with Shinichi again sooner than you think”

Yukiko sighed and rested her forehead against Yusaku’s “…things were simpler back then..”

Yusaku frowned but didn’t deny her words “It was”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to move things along a bit you know?
> 
> With the adults leaving now I get to focus a little more on the boys! Of course they'll still be around though, they'll just take a bit of a backseat from this point onwards. 
> 
> Ack, I don't know, I spent way too long editing and revising this chapter over and over again. I've gotta sleep ugh.


	13. Wish cycle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ITS SHORT BUT HMMM

Kaito had half a mind to stop Shinichi from skipping away to a crime scene when it started. Now he was wondering why it was only _half_ because _seriously,_ they ventured into an _active_ crime scene.

Another more logical, and less panicky, side of the magician reminded him that he couldn’t have stopped Shinichi either way. One because Shinichi wouldn’t have stopped, two because Shinichi is a witness. The _first_ witness, that meaning some dead guy fell **_right in front of him_**.

So no, stopping his best friend was off the table because the police needed to hear what he saw, though from the looks of the inspector he wasn’t happy about Shinichi being there.

It was something Kaito could agree with, and he knew inspector Megure would sympathize with his flairs of panic every time Shinichi got involved in something. Hell, the man even told him as much and it hasn’t even been _weeks_ since that little talk came about.

Standing there, a can of cold tea in hand, a blanket draped over his shoulders, and blinking ever so often when the police lights would shift colors near his face, Kaito was concerned. Mainly because this scene had suddenly become _repetitive_ of all things, at least when he came into Beika. The chattering bystanders, the police tape, the officers milling about collecting evidence, the ambulance, the coroners, _the dead body_. The magician had seen it at least three times in that week alone.

Someone from the first response team even began to recognize him, she was a first aider by the name of Hanazawa Minako, the very same person who had draped an all too familiar blanket over him when she arrived on the scene “Kaito-kun! This is becoming too much, how come I always find you in these situations?!” She had said after she finished inspecting him “I’m starting to get so worried over you and your little friend! You boys are running into more trouble than you need to!!” He muttered apologies in response to her fretting but refused to sit down even as she urged him to. She gave up and checked on the other casualties later on.

Despite what she believed he wasn’t in shock, well maybe a little bit but it was minor, who the hell would be okay with a dead body dropping at their feet? But no, the shock didn’t stay for long, it’s just that…well…..someone _died_ and he was never sure about how to react to the situation. Until Megure-keibu or someone calls him over to talk and give his piece, all Kaito could really do was stand there and watch the events unfold. More importantly, watch Shinichi.

Kaito took a tentative sip of his cold tea, his eyes were steady and set on his friend as Shinichi’s mouth moved in words he could only barely make out, what with some officers blocking his view. He frowned to himself, worry creeping near his mind, how was Shinichi handling this?

_It’s not the first time._

When Shinichi told him these words once upon a not too long ago, he didn’t believe them as strongly as he did now. Whenever he came to Beika and invited Shinichi out, somehow there was always a twenty five-seventy five chance that someone just happened to die that same day, not only that but they died _close_ to them. The place holder for ‘closest murder to happen next to them’ was that of a man who died of poisoning in the restaurant they had lunch in a few months ago. He was at the table across from them.

Now, Kaito figured, that place is now unfortunately given to hack and slash victim that fell at their feet from an alleyway.

He shivered in disgust.

“Kaito-kun!” The magician looked up at the sound of his name, Megure-keibu was beckoning him over. With a heavy sigh Kaito held on to his blanket and jogged up to them, ignoring Minako-san’s distant protests to his movements “We meet again it seems Kaito-kun” Megure sighed.

Kaito gave him a shaky smile “Yeah, too soon Megure-keibu” Other members of Division One who were close enough to notice him coming gave him similar greetings, some waved. Really, most of this division were familiar with the both of them already, _especially_ Shinichi.

“I think you know what I’m about to ask of you Kaito-kun” Megure flipped open a notebook.

“What did Shinichi tell you?”

“What _I_ told him” Shinichi huffed, not very happy that he was being talked about when he was right there “Was that we were coming back from the park and then heard a scream, we ran up to the alleyway and suddenly the victim fell in front of us”

Kaito shrugged and tilted his head in Shinichi’s direction “I don’t think my story is any different from Shinichi’s”

Megure hummed and looked at the two of them “Well, did the two of you see what the attacker looked like?”

“No but we saw the shadow, broad shouldered, tall, wearing a cap but going on that is a little tricky because the shadow was at an angle” Shinichi supplied, his mind instantly shifting gears, trying to remember and process what he saw at the scene “The steps sounded heavy too, you could be dealing with a man but the tracks looked like prints of a hefty kind of footwear. They may have been wearing a long jacket, we can see from the wire fence that it got snagged when they tried to run, hence the fabrics that were left behind. Judging from the direction they were headed and the time of the murder, I’d say the best bet would be to close off any exits and entrances to the north of here, the murderer-“

“Would be handled by the _police_ ” Megure cut in almost harshly, he gave the young Kudo a pointed look. Shinichi snapped his mouth shut but shot him a small glare, the inspector shook his head “But thank you for your input Shinichi-kun, I’m sure we’ll put it to good use. Now what I want from the both of you is that you get as far away from this crime scene as you can, let the professionals do their job okay?”

“But I was just-“

“ _Shinichi_ ” Megure warned sternly, he said nothing more. Shinichi opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself at the last second, he huffed and averted his eyes from the inspector and turned around, marching out of the crime scene as fast as he can. The inspector watched him go, with his brows pinched tight together, he shook his head and covered his face with a hand.

“I’ll look after him Megure-keibu” Kaito offered quietly after watching how tired the inspector suddenly became.

“I know you will Kaito-kun” Juzo took off his hat and idly looked at its rim, seeing all the wear and tear it endured in his whole career as an officer “I’m just starting to get worried for that boy” He sighed “I know what I promised his father, but somehow the trouble is finding him faster than I can stop it” He placed his hat back on his head and turned to look at the other young boy “That goes the same for you”

Kaito laughed quietly and began to back away “I hear you but I’m trying to avoid it the best I can too” He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder “I guess I better catch up to him, I promise I’ll keep him out of trouble for the rest of the day” At Megure’s nod, Kaito turned heel and ran after his friend, not without depositing his little blanket and empty tea can near a paramedic on his break, he breathed out a sigh at finally leaving the crime scene behind them.

Juzo watched the both of them go with a frown. Ever since Yusaku had decided to up and disappear from Japan nearly two and a half years ago, his son just constantly ran into more and more trouble than he was comfortable with. At this point he wasn’t sure about what he was supposed to do, it wasn’t Shinichi’s fault this was happening around him, it was just a coincidence that he was there. With another sigh the inspector turned back to his colleagues and tentatively told them about setting up a perimeter to the north of the crime scene.

Kaito was quick to jog to Shinichi’s side but even from afar he knew his friend was sulking. He had his tells: the way his shoulders stayed stiff, crossed arms, and a subtle frown. The magician sighed “Shinichi..” He opted for his friend’s actual name instead of his usual favored nickname, as much as he loved to tease him he knew there was a time and a place “You know Megure-keibu is just-“

“Doing his job, yeah I get it” Shinichi snapped, causing Kaito to falter somewhat “..not like you haven’t told me that before…” It was muttered but Kaito’s been able to hone his hearing well enough to catch it.

“Hey now, no need for that attitude” He huffed beside him, sticking his hands in his jacket pockets “You should know by now that Megure-keibu won’t just let you play detective”

The way Shinichi flinched almost made Kaito sorry for his last words, the keyword being _almost_. He knew he hit his friend’s pride with that comment but even _he_ had his limits when it came to danger, running into _murderers_ was exactly the kind of thing he drew the line at, more so if Shinichi always _always_ insisted on chasing after them. Shinichi had to see reason eventually, if it meant hurting his ego a bit then he wouldn’t hesitate to land a healthy slap of reality.

“God, have you and Megure-keibu been teaming up lately?” Shinichi sighed, he ran a hand through his hair and pulled at it just a little. There was a bout of annoyance in his expression before he was able to rein it in, logic had always won him over in the face of emotional distress “It wasn’t like I was going to ask for a car and look for the guy, I was just giving them some advice you know??” Shinichi’s hands gestured agitatedly, betraying the calmness he was trying so hard to maintain.

Between the two of them, Kaito knew he was better at the poker face, since his actually extended to his whole demeanor and not just his expression. He’s had years of practice after all “They missed _so much_ before I started pointing them out! Can you believe that?” The young detective beside him scoffed and rolled his eyes “I mean _wow!_ I can’t even begin to imagine how they could have missed it!”

“Shin-chan I know you’re upset,” Kaito frowned “but ragging on the officers isn’t exactly the best way to go about it. It’s mean”

Shinichi seemed to stutter at that, his movements halted in the middle as his mouth clamped shut. The young detective suddenly looked bashful, his eyes darted towards Kaito and the ground before he shook his head, one hand reaching behind his neck while the other burrowed into a pant pocket “I-uh….y-yeah..” He ducked his head “Sorry sorry I..I was- yeah I guess that was a bit uncalled for”

Shinichi grimaced at himself, he sighed “I just- it’s so _frustrating!_ ” He threw his hands up and let them fall back to his sides “It’s been almost a year, _a year_ and he still talks to me like I’m a dumb kid!” There was a scowl there, but it went by too quick for Kaito to really catch on time “He _knows_ I’m right about a lot of things, he even follows what I say sometimes. Hell, he even saw me solve a case on my own! So why doesn’t he trust my abilities enough to let me stay and help even a little bit??”

Kaito already knew the answers to that: _‘It’s ‘cause you’re just a kid’, ’He’s trying to look out for you’_ and _‘He doesn’t want to you be involved in something so dangerous’_ but hearing the way Shinichi sounded so defeated made him hesitate. Kaito winced _‘This is his dream damnit’_ He glanced at his friend.

Shinichi had taken to staring at the ground like it had all his answers, there was a downward curve to his lips, just slightly, but it was enough to make the young magician heart clench painfully _‘Being a detective is something he’s always wanted, hadn’t he always supported_ your _dream??’_ Kaito argued against himself, true that Shinichi had always been his number one supporter through his life so far, but his dream didn’t involve crazy people with intents to kill.

“I know you don’t like hearing this” He heard himself say before his mental turmoil could do anything about it “but it’s pretty reasonable that Megure-keibu wouldn’t let you just _hang around in a homicide case_ , Shinichi no matter how you look at it we’re still too young for that kind of thing”

There was a hanging protest in the air but Shinichi didn’t take the chance at rebuttal. Instead the young detective crossed his arms and nodded along to his words, relenting silently but refusing to acknowledge it somewhat “Yeah, we’re just kids…” He muttered.

Kaito frowned at him but he knew that Shinichi wouldn’t like to talk about it more than that. It wasn’t like it was his first time trying to keep his friend’s head in place, but continuously having to do it was already concerning. They’ve been having arguments like this more often these days. He wanted to say something, anything, but a heavy silence had already settled over them. So he merely turned away.

He didn’t dare bring up the reason why they went out together in the first place: to plan for a joint celebration of their birthdays coming up soon. Shinichi looked like he’d forgotten all about it already anyway.

That was fine.

Kaito could do all the work for them.

 

* * *

 

Kaito tapped his fingers restlessly on top of the table, the young magician’s other hand kept busy with a deck of cards, one which he had taken to stacking into a neat little tower. Each card miraculously balancing vertically on top of each other while Kaito guided the stack higher and higher up. Some patrons of the café tried to subtly glance at what he was doing, some had taken to openly staring while others who were parents tried to keep their children from pointing and staring.

To the magician though, the whole world beyond his little booth didn’t quite come into focus. He double checked his phone and confirmed all the recent exchanges of texts to try and ease his anxiousness. When someone slid into the couch in front of him, the cards he was stacking with his other hand suddenly collapsed with his surprise, eliciting some quiet sounds of disappointment from his secret audience.

“Hi there, back with us?” Ran giggled from her seat, she made herself comfortable and folded her hands on top of the table. The girl looked over to his scattered desk with an amused smile “Do you need help cleaning up?”

“Oh, no it’s fine” He snapped his fingers and in a blink the cards all over the table were suddenly in a neat orderly stack to the side of it. A man across from them whistled and clapped, Kaito laughed and waved at him but didn’t go further than that, in fact he seemed to shy away from the attention, wanting nothing more than to get to the matter at hand. This was enough to make Ran worry suddenly.

“So you called me to tell me something right? Which is weird, usually you call Shinichi”

“Yeah uh, I don’t think Shinichi would be the best to talk to about this”

Ran frowned- no nickname- that was already another red flag. She reached across the table to put her hand on top of Kaito’s fidgeting one, comforting “Well, you know I’ll listen. I may not be your _favorite_ but I’m still your friend”

The magician coughed into his sleeve at her words, ignoring how hot he suddenly became. Kaito smiled at her, thankful. Over the years Ran had still managed to be the sweet thoughtful girl he had met on Halloween, when he visited Beika she had always been a welcoming presence along with Shinichi, even on his bad days she had provided the support he needed without question, like it was natural for her. He could see why Shinichi liked her so much “Favorite?” He huffed, sliding his hand away and patting Ran’s “Ran-chan I treat everyone equally! I don’t play favorites”

“Sure you don’t” She raised an eyebrow at him as she took her hand back as well “I guess that’s why Shinichi always gets flowers when you visit and I don’t? Ah!” She held a finger up at him when she noticed his hands begin to move “Don’t you think about it mister, giving me a flower right after I said you don’t doesn’t count. Also, Shinichi gets _flowers_ not _a_ flower” She smiled smugly, having caught him. Ran laughed when Kaito ducked his head in embarrassment.

“Ahahaha, R-Ran-chan, as much as I would _love_ to continue this conversation this is not what I had in mind”

Ran huffed, rolling her eyes, before her retort left her tongue however, she paused at what she saw. Kaito indeed had a flower in between his fingers but she was sure that it wasn’t the one he intended to give her, it wasn’t a rose which was always his default greeting but a single small white flower. It was so tiny, not even as big as a pinky finger, but she recognized the bloom. Whenever there was a new bouquet in the Kudo mansion, courtesy of Kaito, the small flowers were always present, when she asked Shinichi about them he would just quietly mutter something about _‘stupid magician riddles’_ and left it at that.

Kaito gazed at the little bloom sadly, his index finger brushed at the petals before he sighed “Ran-chan, I know this will sound worrying but….you’ve noticed something with Shinichi right?”

Ran’s eyebrows shot to her hairline, she clasped her hands together. She wasn’t expecting a talk about Shinichi to sound so serious, _especially_ from Kaito. She took his words into consideration “I..I don’t kno-“ She caught her tongue. No, she did in fact _know_ something, she just didn’t think she could talk to anyone about it, looks like she wasn’t the only one who noticed “…yeah, a bit. This is about the-“ She took in a breath “-the murders right?”

The magician nodded “Exactly” They both grew quiet, neither really knowing how to broach the topic at hand. Kaito decided to take the first step “I know it sounds so stupid” He smiled and shook his head, though his expression didn’t look very genuine “I just can’t help but be so concerned about all of this. It’s like whenever Shinichi decides to step out of the house someone just…just _dies_ ”

Ran’s smile was tight, she shifted her hands to her lap to hold on to the edge of it as she spoke “I understand what you’re trying to say” She responded “I don’t- I don’t think I’ve told you about when I thought it started” She breathed in deeply, looking up once to see the young magician staring at her intently “It’s really weird saying this out loud, but ever since the Kudo parents left Shinichi’s been outside _too much_ ” She laughed hollowly “Can you believe that? I’m starting to think that he’s getting too much sunlight, back then I had to fight him to get him to come out”

“I know what you mean” They smiled at the memories of those times. Simpler times when they weren’t concerned about a lot of things, back when they were kids.

The moment was gone too soon as Ran continued to speak “I don’t know Kaito, it’s like Shinichi’s looking for trouble, he’s never still, I can’t get him to stay in one place these days” She looked down at her lap “I mean, I understand that maybe his house is getting too big for him, but the way he just _runs into_ these situations is starting to bother me…..I guess it’s starting to bother you too, huh?”

“An understatement, fair lady” Kaito twirled the small flower in his hands, ignoring the sharp pang of worry that pierced through him when he gazed down at it. Shinichi was at home, he knew that much, but he couldn’t help his mind from going overboard with unpleasant thoughts. _Is he safe? Did he go out? Did someone drop dead somewhere? Has Shinichi gotten into trouble?_ His hands rubbed circles on the pocket that held his phone, he was almost tempted to make a call.

“Kaito..” The magician looked back at Ran, she watched him with an air of worry “I don’t know what you want me to do. I’m worrying about Shinichi as much as you are but…but how do you stop _murders_ we aren’t even directly involved in from happening? I’m not a detective or a police officer..”

“I-I know that” Kaito interjected before Ran could go any further “I know, I’m just- I don’t know who else I can talk to about this” The small flower was set aside, placed on top of the deck of blue cards that had been well cared for over the years “I feel really silly for worrying about this _so much_ but Shinichi is..”

 _Important to me_.

Kaito didn’t say it out loud but from the look in Ran’s eyes, he knew she understood. The girl smiled sadly at him and gently picked up the single flower from his deck of cards, she brushed one of its petals and admired how healthy and well cared for the flower looked. Kaito mentioned growing his own flowers many times before, it wasn’t a secret as to how good he was at taking care of them “If it will make you feel better” She spoke up after a moment “When you’re not in Beika, I could update you on what’s been going on”

“What?” Kaito straightened up at that “No, I can’t ask you to inconvenience yourself like that. I can-“

“I wasn’t suggesting it Kaito” Ran smirked as he clamped his mouth shut, she leaned back on her seat and crossed her legs “You and Shinichi are different in a lot of ways, one thing’s for certain though, is that you both don’t know when to ask for help. Really, you’re both emotionally constipated enough as it is, it’s unhealthy” She raised an eyebrow at him as if daring to challenge her words, Kaito didn’t want to “I’m doing this just so you don’t explode from stress, I’m still your friend you know? It’s the least I can do”

“Ran…”

“Don’t throw away a kind gesture from someone who cares” She tutted at him, wagging her index finger in reprimand “Besides, I care about Shinichi too you know, this way I can look after him as well” When Ran saw the way Kaito’s rigid figure began to- reluctantly- relax, she knew that the topic was now slowly easing away to the side. She smiled sweetly at him “It’s nice to know I’m not the only one who cares about him you know? I mean, obviously, not to _your_ extent-“

“Whoa whoa _whoa_ there miss nosey” Kaito chuckled, waving his hands in the air as if dismissing her words “I hear those implications but I’m not gracing them with a solid response, keep your girl gossipy nose to yourself thanks”

“Huuuu?” Ran smirked, leaning forward and supporting her chin with a hand as she continued to tease “Getting _pretty_ defensive there Kuroba, I didn’t _say_ anything did I?”

“Using your psychology tricks won’t work Mouri” Kaito huffed but quickly ducked his head when he felt his face heating up, thanking his messy fringe for at least covering a good part of his face “I came here to talk serious talk, not to be interrogated about _feelings”_

“Oh? Were we talking about feelings??”

“You know what? How about we just order something already? You hungry? I’m hungry, look a waiter. Excuse me!!” Kaito stood up from his seat and made a dash for the closest waiter he saw. The man was surprised when a customer came to him for a change instead of the other way around, but Kaito being Kaito immediately charmed his way into a favorable situation and the waiter happily took his order while being pulled into an impromptu chat about birds.

Ran giggled from where she sat, watching Kaito from afar. Silly boy. Her heart warmed at the way he smiled and laughed, none was forced. It was always mesmerizing to watch Kaito connect so easily with the people around him, he wore his heart on his sleeve when it came to forming bonds, even this last minute distraction wasn’t exempt from it, he _genuinely_ looks as though he was having a good time talking to the waiter he managed to steal away from duty, the man himself looked just as happy too.

Ran hummed quietly to herself as she shifted her eyes away from the scene and down to the small flower still in her hand. Kaito would take care of her best friend, she knows he will.

Though, the magician already received her silent blessing years ago.

 

* * *

 

Shinichi had a headache the size of Japan, it was grating on his nerves a little. The young Kudo huffed at the sky as he made his trek back home, things haven’t been easy the past few weeks. On top of his studies he’d been running into his fair share of usual homicide cases again, and of course Megure would shoo him away the moment he’d start coming up with deductions, not two sentences out and the inspector was already telling him to go home.

It was _annoying_.

He could seriously _help_ , he knows he can! But the inspector was adamant on never giving him the time of day or even considering at least lending an ear to his advice. It’s always the same routine with the man and frankly he was getting _so_ sick of it. He wasn’t a stupid kid, he _can_ treat the case with a delicate touch and the seriousness that a lot of detectives are known for, hell, his father had personally taught him the ins and outs of everything!

That wasn’t enough apparently.

Shinichi let out a long suffering sigh and shook his head as he opened the gates of his house. He didn’t want to make his headache worse so he shifted over to another thought: Kaito.

He wanted it to be a pleasant thought, usually it was, but recent events soured it.

They had a fight, plain and simple, actually scratch that they had _fights_. Of course all related to the first problem that floated around in his mind. Kaito was clearly siding with Megure regarding his involvement in certain cases, it tipped him off at first because he had expected Kaito of all people to understand where he was coming from. He wasn’t going to actively pursue the criminals, just stand at the side and _contribute_ something to help the police with their capture. That was all he was asking for now, just a chance to _help_.

Obviously it sent the both of them towards warring sides. Shinichi noticed that a lot of their moments together had been spent in arguments than anything else, and it always left the both of them feeling drained and bitter. They hadn’t had a moment of peace and now Kaito had avoided him all together, he hasn’t seen the other boy in weeks.

His sudden absence left Shinichi feeling guilty, angry, and saddened all at once, even Nami wasn’t around anymore. The last person he ever wanted to push away was Kaito, he even contemplated calling him to apologize.

When Shinichi finally got to his front door and opened it, he was greeted by a dark home that was just so… _empty._ A pang of loneliness hit him momentarily but it quickly subsided, he forced it to. Shinichi shuffled his shoes off but wasn’t in a rush to close the door behind him, the sounds of the evening coming to was at least filling his home with some semblance of life. When the door clicked shut it was back to the drowning silence of a house that didn’t have enough people in it. Shinichi sighed.

“Croo” His head jolted up in surprise at the sudden cooing sound. There, in the middle of the hallway, was Nami, the dove he hadn’t seen in _weeks_. She tilted her head at him and hopped closer, cooing more as if trying to tell him something.

Shinchi shut his mouth when he realized he was gaping and took tentative steps towards the dove. He crouched down to her level and frowned at her “Why are you here Nami?” The dove didn’t answer of course, just tilted her head at him and pecked at her own feathers. He offered his hand for her but the dove only scooted away and blinked up at him. She unfolded her wings and flew up, Shinichi followed suit and watched as she flew away from where he was standing and into the direction of the living room.

Shinichi stood there in shock for a while, he really hadn’t been expecting Nami to be there, though most of his reservations was thrown away when he made up his mind to see where the dove went. It wouldn’t do for him to leave Nami on her own where he can’t see, though he knew she was well trained, Nami certainly never ventured around the Kudo mansion without him.

When he came close to the living room, he knew something was off. It was just so _dark_ , it didn’t even seem like the normal kind of darkness that came from having none of the lights on, it was the kind of darkness that just _swallows_ light. A cold shiver ran down his spine as Shinichi blindly tapped at the wall for the light switch, some small part of him rising in fear at the prospect of not being alone in his own house.

Though the logical part took over when Nami hopped out from the dark to tilt her head at him, questioningly. Shinichi shifted his gaze over to her and swallowed past the lump in his throat “Nami-“

Then suddenly that darkness was gone, replaced by a blinding white light that had Shinichi yelping in surprise and scrambling backwards. He felt his foot catch on to something and braced himself for an inevitable collision with the floor as his vision was sent upwards to the ceiling, he expected hard cold ground to knock the wind out of him, it never came.

“Whoops” Shinichi slowly blinked his eyes open when he felt hands steady him before he fell. He had trouble focusing on the face above him, mostly due to the lights behind it, but the familiar shimmering shade of indigo was already a dead giveaway as to who decided to break into his house that evening. Kaito smiled warmly at him, a sight that Shinichi was so used to, but after days without it it suddenly made him breathless “Hi hime-sama, sorry for scaring you” He chuckled.

“Kaito- you-“ Shinichi blubbered out, sheer shock of being in proximity with the magician again keeping him from coherency. A hand subconsciously came up to rest against the magician’s chest, right on top of his heart. As if Shinichi had trouble believing that his elusive friend was really there, and that feeling the steady beats beneath his fingers was his only way of knowing “What- what- _why_ are you here? I mean, why so suddenly?? You were gone for like- We were-“

_We had a fight._

Kaito’s eyes flickered around Shinichi’s face, the magician let out a chortle at the look of confusion his friend was showing him. He laughed as he lifted them both up to a more comfortable position, as much fun it was to dip Shinichi his arms were starting to scream at him for straining them. He held his best friend close once he made sure they were both standing straight, humming in quiet happiness when Shinichi settled his hands on his arms around the detective’s waist.

“I know that look Shin-chan” He singsonged, his wide smile still in place “You’re overthinking. I know your head drifts off a lot sometimes, but I thought you would have remembered me saying that I was going to be gone for a while to prepare for our birthdays”

Shinichi froze. The detective slowly turned his head around, now that his eyes were starting to adjust to the lights he began to see the other items in the rooms with them. Clearly, Kaito had been spending a lot of time in his house when he was away. All the furniture was pushed away from the center, bouquets of roses in colors of yellow, pink, lavender, and peach decorated the walls along with white banners that were decorated with blue whimsical swirls, there were even some painted feathers that twirled on the corners, hand made it seemed.

In the middle of it all was a small lemon cake, seated on a silver platter on top of a table Shinichi _knew_ he didn’t own, the words ‘Happy birthday’ delicately written on in white icing.

A different bouquet sat behind the cake, the same small white flowers that Kaito loved, with a card that read: _‘Happy 16 TH to my favorite detective’._

_Oh shit_

“Shit…Oh my god..” Shinichi covered his face with both his hands, realization slowly creeping into his subconscious just as Nami came to rest on Kaito’s shoulder, a mini bow perched on top of her head. When Shinichi pulled his hands down his face, it was only then that he noticed the slightly formal wear that Kaito was sporting. Compared to his baggy hoodie and worn out jeans, Kaito’s neatly pressed button up looked a lot more appropriate for celebration.

His face burned with embarrassment. Kaito put in so much effort, and yet here he was without even a greeting card to give. How insensitive could he get? Especially after he’d been treating his friend recently. He’d been so focused on his own problems, trapped in a bubble of his own world, that he didn’t even give an _ounce_ of thought for any of his friends. Most of all Kaito, who had been nothing but patient with him. God he felt so _awful_ “Oh my god…I forgot, Kaito I’m _so_ sorry. I wasn’t able to-“

“Oh Shin-chan” Kaito sighed, making Shinichi look back up at him in question. The magician didn’t even sound the least bit angry with him. If he ever made this mistake with Ran, the girl would try to kick him into next week “You know, I was already kinda expecting that you’d forget. You were never really good with dates, even when we were kids” Kaito grinned, absentmindedly swaying them “Besides, this isn’t the actual date we had set for the celebration, think of this as the pre-birthday party..” The magician snapped his fingers, a blue rose appeared in his hand, one which he offered to Shinichi “..and my sorry for our fight a few weeks ago”

“Kaito…no, you don’t have anything to apologize for” If Shinichi wasn’t already feeling guilty, Kaito was doing a good job of pummeling any ego he had down to a pulp. The detective had a lot of time to think about his behavior during Kaito’s absence, and he was ashamed at how childish he’d been acting. It was a miracle that the magician hadn’t become so fed up with him “Really, I’m serious. If anything _I_ should be the one apologizing. On top of dragging you off to murder cases, whining at you, and brushing you off? God I’m a jerk…” Shinichi bowed his head and rested it on Kaito’s chest, he heaved out a sigh “And I completely forgot about our birthdays. _I’m so so sorry..”_

The magician smiled down at his friend sadly. It was just like Shinichi to overthink himself into an emotionally draining corner, the weeks where he’d been gone were really just meant to give his friend some space. Ever since the Kudo parents _willingly_ bowed out of their son’s life, Shinichi always seemed like he was…lost, confused.

Of course, Shinichi would look for answers whenever he was confused. Said searching just came in the form of stumbling into murders on a daily basis. He was just looking for something that made sense, something he could figure out on a moment’s notice. Since his parents’ sudden secrecy and departure was something that he could never figure out.

Kaito wasn’t sure if he’d ever forgive the Kudo parents for doing this to their son.

Sure they called sometimes, but they shouldn’t have left in the first place, and for what? A change of scenery???

If they really loved him like they said they did, they shouldn’t have chosen to leave him behind.

Where did that leave Kaito?

The magician tightened his hold on his friend, gathering all of his self-restraint. It would be so easy to comb his hand through Shinichi’s hair, tell him it’s going to be alright and that he’d still be here even if he forgot a thousand birthdays, it wouldn’t matter. He’d stay by his side no matter what.

Because he-

Kaito leaned his head away from his friend, just when he noticed that he was starting to move closer. He instead opted to just smile.

“Okaaay, so maybe you were a bit of a jerk” Kaito lifted Shinichi’s chin up with a finger, his gaze lingering a bit too long on Shinichi’s- _cute –_ pouting lips “And that I, Kaito-sama, am _completely_ not at fault for anything because I’m a perfect gentleman like that” Kaito’s smile turned into a grin when an all too familiar eye roll was done in response to his words, a barely restrained smile of amusement played at Shinichi’s lips as he shook his head at the magician “Ah yes, there’s my rude hime-sama. Disregarding my heartfelt words just because he has no heart to feel them with”

“Such a way with words, _idiot magician_ ”

“Uggghhh! Why are you always so _mean_ to me?!” Katio’s exaggerated whiny tone had the effect he desired. Shinchi burst out into tickling- relieved- laughter that sent the magician’s heart soaring. With the help of the lights around them, it almost made it seem like Shinichi was glowing. The smile on his face, the ringing sound of his laughter, the way he tried to cover his mouth as if he were shy, and the high blush that faintly colored his cheeks as his eyes shone with a sparkling twinkle of mirth.

_He was so beautiful._

Kaito knew, he’d known for a while now maybe.

He was falling in love.

He was falling in love with his smart, caring, funny, _beautiful_ best friend.

_And he wouldn’t have it any other way._

“If you’re done laughing at me” Kaito relinquished his semi-embrace on his friend and pulled him towards the center of the room. Nami had flown off his shoulder and was now circling around the cake he set on the table “I baked a cake for you, see I worked _really_ hard on it and I’d hate to see it go to waste”

“Wait wait wait wait! Hold the phone!” Shinichi looked at him incredulously just as Kaito pulled out a chair for him and have him sit down “ _You_ made this cake?” The detective gestured at the lemon cake in disbelief. It was just so- so _not_ ruined! “No way, _no way_ you made this cake. You bought this somewhere didn’t you? Don’t lie to me, I can tell”

“You _really_ are starting to hurt my feelings here Shin-chan!” Kaito said once he was settled comfortably in his seat, the lights around them began to dim somewhat, giving them a brand new toned down atmosphere just as the night sky began to wrap the world in a dark blanket outside “I _can_ bake cakes now thank you! What do you think I’ve been doing the past few weeks?”

“I’m sorry if this is hard to believe, but the last time you insisted on baking a cake, you nearly burned your house down”

“ _Correction_ , _we_ nearly burned my house down. Don’t pretend like you had no part in that, _heartless tantei-kun_ ” Using the monikers they often shot at each other when they were children was comforting. Although Shinichi still liked using words like ‘idiot’ or ‘moron’ when describing him, ‘idiot magician’ was reserved for special instances now. Kaito never thought that what was usually considered insulting sounded so endearing to his ears now. Of course, no one but Shinichi was allowed to call him that.

“Just eat the thing already” Kaito rolled his eyes when he spotted the detective giving the cake a weary poke of his fork “I magician promise that I didn’t put anything weird in it”

“You _sure_ you followed the ingredients this time? Like I told you to do before but you didn’t?”

“ _Yeeeeesss,_ mom was there to help me with it too. So stop being mean and appreciate my cake already!”

If there was one thing Shinichi would _never_ admit out loud, it was that Kaito was really good at the kicked puppy dog look. The detective was sure that he’d give into whatever his best friend asked him to do if he flashed him those wide blues, although when had he _never_ agreed to any of Kaito’s plans? It certainly doesn’t take a lot of persuading that’s for sure.

With a reluctant exhale, Shinichi dug into a corner of the cake with his fork, ignoring how Kaito watched his movements as he brought the piece of cake up to his lips. The first thing he noticed was the scent, it seemed too sweet for his senses and he nearly grimaced at it, but he _was_ trying to be polite, especially after all the effort his friend went through. So he ate the piece of cake, ready to taste a horrifying amount of sugar, but was pleasantly surprised when it actually wasn’t that sweet. In fact, the tangy taste of lemon quickly overpowered the faint trace of sugar on his tongue.

Shinichi let out a pleased hum.

“Oh wow, that was…not terrible!” Genuinely surprised, the detective went in for another piece of the cake, a bigger portion this time, that he readily popped into his mouth. He nodded with a smile “Gotta admit, this was actually really good Kaito. Definitely worth burning down a house for” He chuckled but soon quieted down “I…well, I feel really bad for not doing anything though. I don’t even have a present to give you”

“Nah, it’s okay” Kaito immediately said, his heartbeat steadily increasing with each praise, unbeknownst to Shinichi “Just being here with you, having one quiet night without all those crazy murders, is enough for me. I’m pretty happy as it is. Besides, you can always give me a present on the _actual_ day we celebrate both our birthdays. And just so you don’t forget, I put sticky notes all over your house”

The reminder of Kaito’s blatant break in made Shinichi scoff “You know, you _could_ just borrow your mom’s spare key and walk through the front door like a normal person. Otherwise, my neighbors are just going to call the police on you again”

“Megure-keibu would know it’s me anyway!”

“And what if someone else _does_ break into my house and the police won’t believe it?”

“Oh _please_ , they can try! I’ve booby trapped your house, no one but me can get in”

“You’re turning into a creep, do you know that?” Shinichi said around the fork in his mouth as he continued to devour the- honestly- delicious lemon cake that Kaito managed to bake. If the magician noticed him enjoying it, Shinichi didn’t acknowledge it, because he knew Kaito was going to be very smug about it otherwise.

“I’m just trying to protect my hime-sama! What’s so wrong about that?” Kaito was absolutely giddy at the mere fact that Shinichi _liked_ something he made. It was pretty hard to actually get it right, much to his surprise, even with the help of his mother he had some difficulty managing to bake the cake just right. He was just glad all his practice paid off, he didn’t even mind the burns he received during the process now. Shinichi _liked_ the cake. It made a fluttery feeling in his chest emerge.

“Oh hold on! Don’t finish it all yet Shin-chan!” Kaito winked as he whistled up at Nami who had been fluttering around the room in a quiet dance. Just as the lights around them began to grow dimmer, the dove quickly swooped downwards and dropped something small. A lone blue candle landed perfectly on top of the cake before its wick sparked into a flame. Shinichi blinked at it “Aren’t you supposed to blow out the candle first _then_ eat the cake? Little late for this Kaito”

“I like shaking things up a bit Shin-chan, you _know_ that” He propped his head on his hands as he leaned forward with a grin “Go on then, make a wish Shin-chan!”

Shinichi’s lips twitched upwards to one side, a deadpanned look in his eyes. He sighed and shook his head, quietly gazing at the candle before he blew it out in one go, only for the flame to pop back up seconds after “Trick candle..should’ve known” Shinichi muttered in mild exasperation.

“So what’d you wish for Shinichi? A new book?”

Shinichi hummed and said in the flattest, most serious voice that Kaito had ever heard “More cake, actually”

The magician guffawed at the answer, Kaito leaned back on his chair, snickering ever so often even as he tried to calm himself down “Ah, don’t worry Shin-chan. I’ll gladly make you another one if you’ll ask me nicely” Yeah, it was a good idea to do this, they both needed this break.

Kaito straightened up again when he noticed Shinichi pushing the cake towards him, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he looked at his best friend then at the cake. Did Shinichi not want it anymore? “Well? It’s not just my birthday we’re celebrating right?” The detective clarified when Kaito made no move to do anything. Shinichi leaned back on his chair and crossed his arms “It’s only fair you make a wish too”

Kaito blinked once, twice, three times. The magician stared down at the candle in front of him, watching as the flame on top of it swayed. If he stared for too long, floaters began to swarm his vision, leaving imprints of the fire’s light dancing across the world around him. His eyes flickered up to Shinichi, barely catching the soft smile that graced his friend’s features.

An imprint of shining sapphires, long since committed to heart.

_I wish I could take away everything that’s hurting you, I wish I could tell you the answers to all your questions, I wish I could be enough to make you smile for as long as I’m with you._

The flame on the candle crackled.

_I wish I could tell you…_

Kaito blew out the candle, it flickered back to life.

“So what did you wish for?”

The magician chuckled _._

“Can’t tell you. It won’t come true”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO THIS IS LIKE A PROOF OF LIFE, THIS FIC AINT DEAD
> 
> I know it's been an eternity since I updated on this, but between life and academics plus the ungodly amount of chapters this series has I'm caught. I AM still trying to properly write out everything but I figured giving ONE chapter won't hurt. Rest assured I really want this to be properly done and ended so I'm not abandoning this. ANYWAY HERES SOME SAPPY THING.


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